A curious polar bear staring into a seal’s breathing hole and an oxpecker cleaning its beak against a rhino’s skin are among the 100 winners of this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
The leading photography competition, organized by the Natural History Museum in Londonhas released a preview of several winning images from the 62nd year.
The museum said photographs were judged anonymously for their creativity, originality, technical excellence and storytelling by an international panel of experts in photography, film, science and conservation.
The entire collection will be on display in an exhibition at the South Kensington museum from October 16 to July 11, 2027.
Kathy Moran, chairman of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year judging panel, said: ‘Every year I think the entries into our competition couldn’t get any stronger… and every year I’m proven wrong.
‘This preview, selected from a record 65,403 images, provides just a small insight into the 100 incredible images that await visitors to our October exhibition.
‘These images pave the way for a deeper appreciation and engagement with our natural world.’
Audun Rikardsen’s image shows a curious polar bear staring into the Arctic sea ice through a seal’s breathing hole
Ernest Porter captures an oxpecker cleaning its beak against the skin of a rhino in South Africa
In this photo by Loren Elliott, a black bear stops for a dip in a pool in Monrovia, Southern California
Jens Cullman’s photo shows an African bullfrog swooping toward an African Babul butterfly in Botswana
An adult orca supports the body of a calf in the icy waters of a Norwegian fjord in this photo by Vegard Byrkjeland Aasen
A snake flight of a mosquito drinking the blood of a poisonous viper by twins Andrea and Maceo Grammatico from France
Jack Crockford photographed the silhouette of a swift against a plane approaching Heathrow Airport
‘Eye of the Storm’ – a chameleon fights a sandstorm in the Namib Desert – by Dewald Tromp
Gil Wizen captured this katydid while camouflaged in Ecuador
An Eastern Japanese toad wanders the streets of Tokyo after a rain shower by Sora Miyazawa
‘Wings of Darkness’ – a black vulture perches on the carcass of a yacaré caiman in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands – by Andrew Parkinson
Allegra Hutton captured a young leopard chasing a squirrel up a tree in Botswana
Shane Gross filmed this school of bigeye swimming as morning light broke and a storm approached on D’Arros Island, Seychelles
This image by Pietro Rojas shows a brown bear on a small motorcycle as it rides around a circus ring in Doha, Qatar
Ralph Pace captured a sea hare floating through a seagrass meadow in Monteray Bay, California
A flock of red-billed queleas swirl above a small pond in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya by Bence Mate
