Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 successful photographs

Adult Grand Title Winner 2025

In the picture Ghost Town Visitor, a hyena stands wanting close to the route of the digicam as an imposing half-destroyed home towers within the background. Taken at night time, with mist setting in, the image has a haunting high quality.

As properly as being the general winner, Wim’s {photograph} additionally received the Urban Wildlife Category, with the judges admiring the way it provides an unique twist to the interpretation of city.

“It once was but is no longer a human-dominated environment,” explains Kathy Moran, Photo Editor and Chair of the Jury for Wildlife Photographer of the Year. “Abandoned by miners, wildlife has taken over. Repopulated, if you will. Is it still a town? It would seem that way to me – just no longer ours.”

The judges additionally contemplate the picture to be a first-rate demonstration of the qualities wanted to be a profitable wildlife photographer – curiosity, persistence and expertise. But above all persistence – with Wim dedicating 10 years to getting this extraordinary {photograph}.

Brown hyenas in ghost cities

Brown hyenas aren’t practically as well-known as their cousins the noticed hyena and the striped hyena. They’re fairly uncommon, with the inhabitants estimated to be between 4,000 and 10,000 within the wild. This means they’re categorised by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Near Threatened on their Red List. They stay in very dry environments the place meals is scarce, so they have a tendency to remain in small teams of as much as six.

Our zoologist Dr Natalie Cooper explains that it’s uncommon to seek out brown hyenas near human dwellings. However, the hyenas “feel quite safe” right here, because the Kolmanskop space was deserted 70 years in the past after the diamonds being mined ran out. Natalie says the solitude of the place mixed with human-made constructions that shelter hyenas from the wind, make it a great location for denning.

Towns like this, in the midst of the desert, are resource-limited environments that rely on the hyenas nearly as a lot because the hyenas rely on them. As scavengers, they not solely clear up by feeding on useless animals but additionally redistribute vitamins. “They’ll often travel really big distances,” Natalie explains. “Sometimes they’ll go up to 50 kilometres to find food and bring that food back to the den, so they’re moving those nutrients around.”

This recycling position makes hyenas essential in powerful environments. Without scavengers, carcasses would pile up and vitamins would stay in a single place. As a end result, different elements of the ecosystem wouldn’t profit from them.

Wim’s picture reminds us all that even animals individuals may overlook or assume negatively of play important roles in preserving ecosystems alive.

Young Grand Title Winner 2025

A longhorn beetle of the species Morimus asper takes the highlight within the stunning picture After the Destruction by Andrea Dominizi, the winner of this yr’s Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award.

In a body diagonally cut up in half, the beetle stands totally centered within the backside left nook whereas logging equipment looms within the high proper.

The image tells two tales. One is of impending pure destruction attributable to human intervention, towards which the smallest creatures stand no probability. The different is of hope and resilience, the composition cleverly making the insect seem as large because the equipment.

“The photographer has given M. asper authority in this image,” says Marine Biologist and Underwater Photographer Jennifer Hayes, one of many judges of this yr’s competitors. “It does exactly what a strong photograph should do – it increases our understanding.”

Beetles as recyclers

Our beetle professional Max Barclay explains that that is one in every of 30,000 species of longhorn beetle that exist world wide. In a poetic twist, its genus title Morimus really comes from the Greek phrase which means “destined to die”, which this picture so completely encapsulates.

It doubtless received given this title because of its black color, its affiliation with decaying wooden and the very fact it might probably’t fly.

Andrea took After the Destruction within the Lepini Mountains of central Italy, in an space as soon as logged for outdated beech timber. The contribution of beetles to the ecosystems of the world is a lot larger than their dimension.

Much like hyenas, beetles are recyclers, solely as an alternative of recycling useless animals, they recycle useless wooden. “Not many things can eat dead wood,” says Max, however beetles eat it and switch it into droppings that comprise vitamins which can be then utilized by vegetation. “That’s important,” he continues, “because otherwise you just have dead wood all over the place and all the nutrients would be locked up, not being used”.

Beetles present vitamins not solely to vegetation but additionally to animals comparable to birds, which feed on bugs. If beetles have been to vanish, Max says, “you’re not only going to have an interruption of the ecosystem services but you’re also going to have a loss of a food source for other organisms”.

This is why Andrea’s successful picture has resonance past its magnificence. Beetles could also be missed in conservation campaigns, however they underpin life as we all know it. Without them, forests wouldn’t have the ability to regenerate and meals chains may collapse.

“I’m so pleased to see this picture winning an award as prestigious as the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year,” says Max. “It really helps to raise the profile of insects, and it helps people see these amazing creatures that, in some ways, are just as interesting and just as fascinating as the bigger animals.”

“I think insect conservation is going to become more important as time passes,” he concludes. “If you’re a young person and interested in insect conservation, you can just go out to your local patch and find something interesting.”

See the successful photographs

These successful pictures have been chosen from a record-breaking 60,636 entries from 113 nations and territories.

The exhibition that includes the 100 awarded photographs opens on Friday 17 October 2025 on the Natural History Museum, London. Book your tickets now.

You may also discover this yr’s photographs, alongside our archive of photographs from previous competitions, in our on-line gallery.