Your unique first have a look at the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competitors is right here. Now in its 61st 12 months, this world-renowned competitors, developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London, has as soon as once more introduced collectively essentially the most placing, shifting, and unforgettable photographs of wildlife from throughout the globe.
Selected from 60,636 entries throughout 113 international locations and territories, the pictures you are about to find had been chosen by a global panel of consultants in wildlife pictures, conservation, science, and filmmaking.
Each shot tells a story – of survival, resilience, and connection, and offers us a window into the often hidden lives of wild animals and the fragile ecosystems they call home.
While the 19 category winners and the overall title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 will be officially revealed during a special ceremony at the Natural History Museum in London on 14 October – hosted by renowned conservationists Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin – we’re giving you an early glimpse at some of the most highly commended images.
These standout photographs will join a total of 100 selected images in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, opening to the public on 17 October, at the Natural History Museum.
So let’s dive into some of the most powerful entries – and see which of these standout shots might just take home the ultimate Grand Title and Young Grand Title.
The ceremony will be available to watch live on the Natural History Museum’s YouTube channel. You can discover extra details about the competitors here.
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No Place Like Home by Emmanuel Tardy, France
Highly Commended, Urban Wildlife
Traffic slowed to a crawl as this sloth crossed the highway, finally reaching a fence submit and gripping firmly. Concerned about not including to the animal’s stress, Emmanuel patiently waited for folks to depart the realm earlier than rapidly taking this photograph. As their habitats change into more and more fragmented, sloths are pressured to make extra floor crossings to succeed in the protection of the subsequent tree. In response, the Costa Rican authorities is working with native NGOs to determine organic corridors, together with aerial bridges that reconnect their forest properties.
Location: El Tanque, San Carlos, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Technical particulars: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV + Sigma 24mm f/1.4 lens; 1/1600 at f/7.1 (+0.33 e/v); ISO 800
Ice Edge Journey by Bertie Gregory, UK
Highly Commended, Animals of their Environment
Bertie spent two months with the penguin colony and witnessed most chicks utilizing ice ramps to descend to sea degree for meals. But this group missed the simple approach down. Keeping his drone at a protected distance, he watched as they took a 15-metre (49-foot) leap into the water.
Left to fend for themselves, emperor penguin chicks should discover a technique to make their first dip into the icy ocean to seek out meals. Scientists consider the continued decline of sea ice in Antarctica could pressure extra penguins to breed on ice cabinets, making this behaviour more and more frequent sooner or later.
Location: Ekström Ice Shelf, Atka Bay, Antarctica
Technical particulars: DJI Mavic 3 Pro + Hasselblad L2D-20c 24mm f/2.8 lens; 1/50 at f/3.5; ISO 100
Essence of Kamchatka by Kesshav Vikram, India
Highly Commended, 11–14 Years
Kesshav waited days for this picture to come back collectively: a brown bear strolling alongside the shore of Kurile Lake because the Iliinsky volcano emerged from the clouds. A slaty-backed gull flew previous, aligned with the volcano’s summit.
Generally solitary, the bear was heading to feast with others on the glut of sockeye salmon migrating upriver to their origin lake to spawn. This caldera lake, fashioned within the crater made by a volcanic eruption, is the biggest sockeye salmon spawning floor in Eurasia.
Location: Kurile Lake, Kamchatka Krai, Russia
Technical particulars: Nikon Z8 + 100–400mm f/4.5–5.6 lens at 100mm; 1/4000 at f/4.5 (+0.3 e/v); ISO 1000; beanbag
Deadly Lessons by Marina Cano, Spain
Highly Commended, Behaviour: Mammals
Marina watched the three younger cheetahs practise their searching abilities whereas their mom seemed on – an important stage of their journey to independence. The dik-dik was tossed into the air and killed simply seconds after Marina took the {photograph}.
Cheetah cubs spend their first two months hidden in a lair whereas their mom hunts. At round a 12 months previous, they start becoming a member of her, studying find out how to stalk and which prey to pursue.
Location: Samburu National Park, Samburu County, Kenya
Technical particulars: Canon EOS R3 + 600mm f/4 lens; 1/1250 at f8; ISO 6400
Wake-up Call by Gabriella Comi, Italy
Highly Commended, Behaviour: Mammals
Energy ranges among the many lions had been low within the scorching noon solar. Gabriella and her information, David, had been about to maneuver on when David noticed motion – a cobra was slithering in direction of two sleeping lions. Within seconds, the eldest of the pair was going through down the venomous intruder.
Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park is famend for its massive inhabitants of lions, with round 3,000 people dwelling there. Lions are estimated to sleep for as much as 20 hours a day to preserve power.
Location: Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Technical particulars: Fujifilm X-S10 + Tamron 150–500mm f/5–6.7 lens at 288mm; 1/1600 at f/5.6; ISO 250
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Toxic Tip by Lakshitha Karunarathna, Sri Lanka Highly
Commended, Photojournalism
For over three years, Lakshitha has documented human–elephant battle in Sri Lanka. This picture is the results of months of meticulous commentary at two open garbage suggestions, the place herds repeatedly forage.
Around 20 elephants died over an eight-year interval at a single web site in Ampara after consuming indigestible meals wrappers and different plastic waste. Alongside international efforts to scale back plastic use, conservationists stress the pressing have to safe landfills and stop wildlife from accessing dangerous supplies.
Location: Ampara, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka
Technical particulars: DJI Mavic 3 Pro + Hasselblad L2D-20c 24mm f/2.8 lens; 1/320 at f/4 (0 e/v); ISO 200
Rutting Call by Jamie Smart, UK
Highly Commended, 10 Years and Under
Jamie walked up and down a path within the park at a protected distance from the stag. She stretched herself up tall to keep away from any lengthy grass within the foreground spoiling her view.
The stag’s antlers have regrown since their annual shedding in spring. The ‘velvet’ – the delicate pores and skin that lined them throughout their progress – has now rubbed off, exposing the bone beneath. Each new set grows bigger and extra advanced because the stag matures, with extra intricate factors known as tines crowning the heads of older males.
Location: Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, England, UK
Technical particulars: Nikon Z9 + 800mm f/6.3 lens; 1/800 at f/6.3; ISO 450
Slime Family Portrait by Kutub Uddin, Bangladesh/UK
Highly Commended, Natural Artistry
Kutub discovered these blueberry-like spheres – the reproductive components of a slime mould, every simply 1–2 millimetres in diameter – in a close-by forest. His picture resembles a fantasy panorama, although he describes the scene as a ‘bizarre family portrait’, full with a tiny yellow insect egg.
A slime mould is a group of cellular single-celled, amoeba-like organisms that dwell independently till they arrive collectively and work as one to seek out meals and reproduce.
Location: Slindon Wood, West Sussex, England, UK
Technical particulars: Canon EOS R5 + 65mm f/2.8 1–5x macro lens; 0.6 at f/5.6; ISO 200; focus stack of 78 photographs
Pink Pose by Leana Kuster, Switzerland
Highly Commended, 15 – 17 Years
While on vacation in southern France, Leana had been watching flamingos within the Camargue. She was fascinated by their foraging behaviour as they moved gracefully by the shallow, saline wetlands, filter feeding for molluscs and crustaceans.
Flamingos use their tongues to pressure water by their specifically tailored payments, that are lined with many rows of fantastic, comb-like plates. These assist entice a species of brine shrimp known as Artemia salina that provides the birds their well-known pink hue.
Location: Pont de Gau, Camargue, France
Technical particulars: Nikon D810 + Tamron 150–600mm f/5.6 lens; 1/500 at f/6.3; ISO 250
Fragile River of Life by Isaac Szabo, USA
Highly Commended, Wetlands: The Bigger Picture
Wrapping his toes round a drowned tree, Isaac photographed this feminine longnose gar with a number of males in the course of the mating season. The presence of the turtle was, for Isaac, the ‘icing on the cake’, because it ‘gives a sense of the whole ecosystem’.
This river is considered one of greater than 1,000 waterways fed by freshwater springs famend for his or her readability. Maintaining the aquifers that offer these springs is significant not just for iconic wildlife equivalent to manatees, but additionally for offering ingesting water to just about half of Florida.
Location: Columbia County, Florida, USA
Technical particulars: Sony A7R II + Nikonos RS 13mm f/2.8 lens; 1/30 at f/8; ISO 200; Inon Z-240 strobes
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Inside the Pack by Amit Eshel, Israel
Highly Commended, Animal Portraits
In temperatures of -35°C (-31°F), Amit struggled to fulfil his dream of photographing the elusive Arctic wolves of Ellesmere Island. But then, on the twelfth day of his second journey, they got here nearer than he had ever imagined, so shut that he may scent their breath.
Restricted to Canada’s most northern territories and northern Greenland, Arctic wolves are curious of people because of a scarcity of interplay. They’re a snow-white subspecies of the gray wolf, pack animals that hunt hares and musk oxen.
Location: Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada
Technical particulars: Canon EOS R5 + 24–105mm f/4 lens; 1/1250 at f/11; ISO 2000
Clouds of Gold by Jassen Todorov, USA
Highly Commended, Wetlands: The Bigger Picture
Flying his single-engine Piper Warrior into San Francisco International Airport, Jassen by no means tires of the altering colors of the ponds. On this event, he says, ‘the light during the golden hour, at sunset, was magnificent’.
The means of salt assortment within the bay was industrialised within the 1800s. Since 2003, the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project has acquired 6,000 hectares (almost 15,000 acres). By eradicating synthetic dykes, the mission is recreating tidal marsh habitat, permitting salt-tolerant crops and wildlife to flourish as soon as extra.
Location: San Francisco Bay, California, USA
Technical particulars: Nikon D810 + 70–200mm f/2.8 lens at 70mm; 1/400 at f/2.8; ISO 280
A Tale of Two Coyotes by Parham Pourahmad, USA
Highly Commended, 11 – 14 Years
Parham adopted this pair – a feminine and presumably her brother – for a few hours throughout the rocky hillside, rapidly framing his picture earlier than the male turned to nuzzle the feminine.
Coyotes can adapt to virtually any habitat and are ample throughout North America and into Central America. Once frequent in San Francisco, they’d disappeared from the town however are actually starting to return. While they do scavenge meals waste, their weight loss program additionally contains rodents and different small mammals.
Location: Bernal Heights Park, California, USA
Technical particulars: Nikon Z8 + 180–600mm f/5.6–6.3 lens at 600mm; 1/1250 at f/6.3; ISO 800
Jelly Smack Summer by Ralph Pace, USA
Highly Commended, Underwater
To attempt to shield himself from stings whereas taking this {photograph}, Ralph smeared petroleum jelly on any pores and skin not lined by his wetsuit. The trailing tentacles can ship a painful sting, which Ralph says feels extra like that of a bee than a nettle.
Highly adaptable to warming seas, jellyfish are showing in bigger numbers. Some biologists argue that extra frequent smacks are an indication of rising ocean temperatures. The elimination of predators and rivals by overfishing is one other contributing issue.
Location: Monterey Bay, California, USA
Technical particulars: Nikon D850 + 28–70mm f/3.5–4.5 lens; 1/5 at f/13; ISO 125; Nauticam housing; 2x Sea & Sea strobes
Nature Reclaims Its Space by Sitaram Raul, India
Highly Commended, Urban Wildlife
Working in complete darkness, Sitaram manually targeted his lens on the distance the place he guessed the bats may seem, counting on his flash to light up the scene. All the whereas, bats had been, in his phrases, ‘randomly pooping on me and the camera’.
Old World fruit bats are frequent throughout southern Asia. During the day, they roost in cavities equivalent to hole timber, caves and abandoned buildings. Sitaram says that irrespective of how massive our city buildings are, as soon as we depart them, ‘eventually nature reclaims its space’.
Location: Banda, Maharashtra, India
Technical particulars: Nikon D750 + 24–120mm f/4 lens; 1/250 at f/8; ISO 800; Godox TT685 flash
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