There’s All the time a Greater Fish—and Fowl—as Seen within the Year’s Finest Wildlife Pictures

Photographer Qingrong Yang was visiting Yundang Lake close to his house in Fujian province, China, when he captured the gorgeous scene within the picture above.

Yang repeatedly goes to this lake to {photograph} feeding frenzies—when birds fly low over the floor to seize fish leaping to flee underwater predators. During this one, he snapped a photograph on the actual second a ladyfish snatched its prey proper out from beneath slightly egret’s beak. It received Yang the Behavior: Birds class award within the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competitors.

This annual contest, organized by the Natural History Museum in London, showcases the most effective wildlife photographs of the 12 months. Read on to see extra of this 12 months’s jaw-dropping award winners.

Animals in Their Environment class winner

Marine conservation photojournalist Shane Gross waited for a number of weeks to seize this not often seen peppered moray eel habits on D’Arros Island, Amirante, Seychelles. Peppered moray eels can hunt each above and beneath the water’s floor and are well-adapted to the intertidal zone. These three had been scavenging for useless fish when Gross noticed them and snapped a photograph.

Photojournalist Story Award winner

Photographer and biologist Javier Aznar González de Rueda explores the advanced relationship between people and rattlesnakes all through the U.S. He noticed this black-tailed rattler on the street at night time exterior of Fort Davis, Texas. González took this image because the snake raised its tail and started rattling to push back the perceived menace of the snake handler who moved it from the street.

Young Grand Title winner

Behavior: Mammals class winner

Wildlife photographer Dennis Stogsdill had spent days trying to find wild cats within the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, when a name came to visit the radio. A caracal—a medium-sized wild cat identified for its spectacular leaping capacity—had been noticed at Ndutu Lake. When Stogsdill arrived, he discovered the cat searching lesser flamingos and took this putting picture of the hunter proudly displaying its catch.

Behavior: Invertebrates class winner

Nature photographer Georgina Steytler spent years on the lookout for the gum-leaf skeletonizer caterpillar, also referred to as the “mad hatterpillar.” While exploring Torndirrup National Park in Western Australia, she observed eucalyptus bushes with skeletonized leaves—an indication that the animal had been grazing there. Once she discovered her topic, she took this backlit picture showcasing its weird headgear, made up of the previous head capsules it retains each time it sheds its pores and skin.

Plants and Fungi class winner

Rising Star Portfolio Award winner

Wildlife and nature photographer Luca Lorenz snapped this picture of a curious harbor seal popping its head above water off the archipelago of Heligoland, Germany. Lorenz minimized the lens aperture to convey the total expanse of the ocean into focus and captured the feel of the ocean floor as rain pattered in opposition to it.

Behavior: Amphibians and Reptiles class winner

Post-doc researcher and wildlife photographer Quentin Martinez discovered this group of lesser tree frogs throughout a wet night time on Kaw Mountain in French Guiana. These vibrant frogs had gathered for a breeding occasion, producing quick, shrill calls to draw mates. This species breeds solely throughout heavy rainfall, assembling in enormous numbers to mate for only a few hours.

Adult Grand Title winner

Wildlife and panorama photographer Wim van den Heever is the general winner of this 12 months’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards—and the winner of the city wildlife class—for this haunting picture. It took Heever a decade to seize this completely framed picture of a brown hyena standing earlier than the dilapidated ruins of an deserted mining city in Kolmanskop, close to Luderitz, Namibia.

Brown hyenas are the rarest hyena species on the earth, and their nocturnal, solitary nature makes them difficult topics to {photograph}. They are identified to cross by means of Kolmanskop on their solution to hunt Cape fur seal pups or scavenge for carrion that washes ashore alongside the Namib Desert coast.