First have a look at Wildlife Photographer of the Year 62

From probability encounters to highly effective photographs that spotlight why it’s price defending our unbelievable planet, expertise all 100 awarded photographs at this yr’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, opening Friday 16 October 2026.

Pause, mirror and reconnect with the pure world – ebook your tickets now.

The class and Grand Title winners can be introduced on Tuesday 13 October at a ceremony right here on the Museum hosted by wildlife TV presenters and conservationists Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin. You can watch the awards reside on our YouTube channel.

Eye of the Storm by Dewald Tromp

Stretching greater than 2,000 kilometres throughout the western coasts of Angola, Namibia and South Africa is an unlimited desert known as the Namib. It’s probably the most excessive environments on Earth.

As Dewald labored close to Swakopmund in Namibia, a sudden storm whipped up the sand, making the air unbreathable and lowering visibility to nearly zero. Facing all of it head on – actually – was this little Namaqua chameleon.

The techniques these insect-eating desert specialists use for staying hydrated are actually fascinating! Microscopic grooves of their pores and skin channel the tiny droplets of dew that type on their our bodies into their mouths. These chameleons additionally drink fog water that condenses on vegetation, rocks and sand.

The Art of Flying by Jack Crockford

Is it a chook? Is it a airplane? It’s truly each!

In the midst of London, the picture Jack had been hoping to create lastly turned a actuality. He captured the right second a airplane heading in the direction of Heathrow Airport and a typical swift soared in synchrony overhead.

Just like these aboard the airplane, the swifts have been arriving in London. These long-distance travellers have been reaching the tip of their annual migration from southern Africa to their breeding grounds in northern Europe.

Somewhat much like a industrial airplane, swifts have lengthy, scythe-shaped wings, giving them velocity and manoeuvrability within the air. In truth, these aerial consultants spend most of their time on the wing, often solely touchdown when it’s time to breed.

Biting Back by Andrea and Maceo Grammatico

Like us, did you end up so captivated by the unblinking stare of this fer-de-lance that you simply failed to identify the shock visitor on this picture?

Even twins Andrea and Maceo solely seen the mosquito perched on the pit viper’s head later once they have been reviewing their photographs from Sierpe, Costa Rica. It took a number of focus and take care of them to supply this picture, combining a number of photographs which have totally different factors of focus.

Fer-de-lance are extremely venomous snakes. Despite solely biting folks in defence, they’re so poisonous that they’re liable for the best variety of deadly snakebites in Central America. Unsuspecting employees in agricultural plantations are sometimes caught out by their extremely efficient camouflage.

Icy Window by Audun Rikardsen

Imagine being a seal and searching up and seeing this!

Seals use gaps within the ice to come back as much as breathe, however to take action could be harmful! Polar bears hunt down these holes, mendacity in wait trying to snag their subsequent meal. It’s a technique that works in winter, however in summer time, when there’s no ice, the bears are pressured to spend a number of months on land. In these lean occasions they need to survive on their saved fats reserves.

Audun noticed bear tracks near this gap within the sea ice north of Svalbard, Norway. In anticipation, he drilled one other gap close by to place his digital camera down into and hooked up a movement sensor. Some eight hours later, a polar bear lastly arrived and seemed down.

Wings of Darkness by Andy Parkinson

Virtually all vultures are scavengers, together with the shiny, feathered topic of Andy’s gorgeous picture. He noticed this American black vulture perched atop a lifeless, floating caiman within the Meeting of the Waters State Park in Northern Pantanal, Brazil.

It was solely after the vulture flew away that Andy seen “a suspiciously clean, straight wound” to the again of the crocodilian’s head. This might have been attributable to a collision with a rushing boat.

What you’ll be able to’t see is the jaguar hiding simply out of body, ready to say the caiman.

Urban Wanderer by Sora Miyazawa

Sora chanced upon this Eastern Japanese toad within the coronary heart of Tokyo – one of many world’s largest cities and a thriving city centre. The toad paused simply earlier than hopping again into the bushes, giving Sora the right probability to compose this picture of the amphibian lit by the delicate neon glow of the town.

Exactly how these toads survive in a metropolis of 14 million folks is unclear. That being mentioned, toads do are usually extra adaptable to new habitats, together with city environments, than different amphibians.

Mutual Friends by Ernest Porter

Rhinos and oxpeckers have an in depth relationship! The birds get an excellent meal by plucking parasites from the rhino’s pores and skin. In return, the rhinos profit by having their parasite load saved beneath management. Not simply that, the oxpeckers additionally act as lookouts, warning the rhinos of impending hazard. In truth, the chook’s title in Swahili – askari wa kifaru – interprets as ‘the rhino’s guard’ in English.

This type of relationship, the place all species concerned profit, known as mutualism.

Ernest composed this picture in South Africa’s Manyeleti Game Reserve. Look nearer and also you’ll see the delicate blue ring on this rhino’s eye that so captivated him.

Lifted to the Surface by Vegard Byrkjeland Aasen

Vegard felt this was an necessary second to doc.

While utilizing a drone throughout the Norwegian Orca Survey, he noticed an grownup orca carrying a lifeless calf on its head. Occasionally, the orca would drop the calf and retrieve it because it sank. Cetacean moms will generally raise their new child calves as much as the water’s floor to breathe. What Vegard noticed might have been the orca trying to revive the small calf.

Some researchers interpret such behaviour as a mirrored image of the sturdy bond between moms and calves. In truth, orca households are intently bonded all through their lives. Both female and male offspring have a tendency to remain throughout the group they’re born into. This is definitely fairly uncommon! In most different animal teams, no less than one of many sexes will go away. But even nicely into maturity, huge male orcas can be discovered nonetheless swimming alongside their mums.

Flock of Gold by Bence Máté

Even from 30 metres away, Bence may really feel the frenzy of air from the tens of hundreds of small wings on this flock of red-billed queleas. This late afternoon scene in Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park solely lasted a couple of minutes, but it surely was sufficient time for Bence! He captured the second when the large flock partially obscured a number of giant mammals visiting a close-by pond.

Red-billed queleas are probably the most ample birds on Earth. They’re present in nearly each a part of central, japanese and southern Africa. The grownup breeding inhabitants of this sparrow-like species is considered made up of a staggering 1.5 billion people! Sometimes, two million of those birds will collect in a single place.

Pooltime Pastime by Loren Elliott

It seems to have been a calming day on the pool for this American black bear in Los Angeles County, USA, however Loren’s picture underscores a rising scenario in southern California.

With the unfold of housing developments into bear habitat, human-bear co-existence is more and more difficult.

Bears continuously go to this explicit yard and pool in Monrovia, California. The proprietor is as accountable as doable, conserving their home windows and doorways shut and ensuring to not go away meals out. They’re solely too conscious they’re dwelling in bear nation!

Up a Tree Without a Squirrel by Allegra Hutton

Life could be powerful in the event you’re a leopard!

They’re often skilled tree climbers, however this one in Botswana was no match for the tree-scaling abilities of a small squirrel. The wily rodent ultimately climbed too excessive for the leopard to observe and the clumsy cat, barely in a position to cling on, needed to admit defeat and make a clumsy retreat.

For the hungry leopard, this was no less than its second failed try at catching dinner that day – Allegra additionally noticed it fail at stalking a rabbit.

Split-Second Escape by Jens Cullmann

On a go to to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana after heavy rains, Jens seen a large number of tadpoles. Returning the next month, he discovered ponds and puddles stuffed with younger African bullfrogs on a quest for survival, consuming absolutely anything that moved.

Jens spent two weeks observing the younger frogs. He captured this second when one decided particular person lunged for an African babul butterfly. Not each hunt generally is a success because the frog discovered when its quarry flitted away to security simply in time.

Calm Amid the Storm by Shane Gross

Every morning at dawn, Shane noticed this college of bigeye trevally swimming simply off the seaside of D’Arros Island within the Seychelles.

Bigeye trevally are fished by folks around the globe however this college is comparatively protected. The waters round D’Arros Island have been made a Marine Protected Area and a chosen no-take zone as a part of a worldwide initiative to guard 30% of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030.

Composing a break up shot – with the lens half underwater and half above – Shane snapped this stunning picture. The rising solar dramatically lights approaching storm clouds, whereas the fish mill serenely beneath the waves.

Hidden Dragon by Gil Wizen

Can you see the cunningly disguised insect on this picture? It’s a Lichenodraculus matti katydid, also called Matt’s little lichen dragon.

This little katydid is simply 15 millimetres lengthy and is barely discovered within the Andes Mountains in Ecuador. So, it’s fairly arduous to search out even earlier than you’re taking its unbelievable camouflage into consideration.

The katydid blends in seamlessly with the lichen it lives on, whereas its spiny armour protects it towards even probably the most eagle-eyed predators. For Gil, telling the lichen and katydid aside within the digital camera’s viewfinder proved difficult. It was solely when the insect moved barely that he may see it.

Ocean Protector by Ralph Pace

This curious creature is a sea hare, a species of sea slug discovered alongside the western coasts of California, USA, and northern Mexico. In the night mild in Monterey Bay, Ralph’s picture traces the silhouette that offers this marine gastropod its uncommon title because it makes its method by way of an eelgrass mattress.

Eelgrass is a marine plant, not a seaweed, and the underwater meadows it grows in are important for coastal ecosystems. They’re additionally a worthwhile carbon sink. By grazing on crimson algae that blocks out daylight, sea hares assist restore eelgrass meadows, permitting these necessary ecosystems to thrive.

The Show Goes On by Pietro Rojas

Many international locations have banned using wild animals in circuses, however not all!

When a travelling circus with animal acts made a cease in Doha, Qatar, photographer Pietro determined to doc it. His picture immortalises the second a captive brown bear ‘performs’, driving a small motorbike round a circus ring.

Bears have been utilized in acts to entertain folks for a lot of lots of of years. Where they’re nonetheless being exploited for leisure, they’re usually skilled to carry unnatural poses and postures for lengthy durations of time, contributing to well being and behavioural points.