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Habitat

Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Closes 8 October 2023

Main image: Underwater wonderland by Tiina Tormanen

Reconnect with nature

Powerful wildlife photography focuses our attention on the beauty and fragility of the natural world

From the Natural History of Museum in London, this exhibition features over 100 exceptional images which capture fascinating animal behaviour, spectacular species and the breathtaking diversity of the natural world.

Using photography's unique emotive power to engage and inspire audiences, the images shine a light on stories and species around the world and encourage a future of advocating for the planet.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the most prestigious photography event of its kind, providing a global platform that showcases the natural world’s most astonishing and challenging sights. The competition receives over 50,000 entries from all over the world.

Want to learn how to take great pictures of wildlife on your phone? Read this amazing article by London's Natural History Museum!

 

 

These extraordinary images showcase the rich diversity of life on Earth and spark curiosity and wonder. Telling the story of a planet under pressure, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition illuminates the urgent challenges we face and the collective action we need to take. This year’s inspiring exhibition will move and empower audiences to advocate for the natural world.

Dr Doug Gurr, Director of the Natural History Museum London

This year’s exhibition features a number of images by Australian photographers including Up a gum tree by Callum Hockey, Double interest by Scott Portelli, The snake tree by Juergan Freund and Wombat lockdown by Douglas Gimesy.

 

Explore images from the collection

Elsewhere in the southern hemisphere, the recovery of southern right populations appears to have taken a hit from warming oceans. Whales in South Africa have been forced to shift their feeding grounds and their breeding success has dropped off as a result A male gliding treefrog, Agalychnis spurrelli, in search for mates and reproductive opportunities amidst thousands of potential offspring. Thousands of adults aggregate to reproduce on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula after torrential wet-season rainstorms over a large pond. There, females lay clutches of over 200 eggs and often lay them next to eggs already on leaves creating huge egg masses on palm fronds that overhang forest pools, as seen here. Of the tens of thousands or even millions of eggs laid, most die from desiccation, predation, and fungal infection. Thus, single, unamplexed males fight for reproductive opportunities by attempting to dislodge amplexed males and by trying to indirectly fertilize already laid eggs. Agalychnis spurrelli is of particular scientific interest because of its understudied arboreal explosive breeding strategy and the diverse behaviors that may affect reproductive success among adults. Moreover, embryos of this species are an excellent example of adaptive plasticity and environmentally cued hatching because of their ability to hatch prematurely to escape predators, flooding, desiccation, and other egg threats. Gliding treefrog eggs are also extremely susceptible to desiccation and the increasing number of dry spells during rainy seasons in the tropics due to climate change are of concern for the survival of this species. The only escape for many kilometres from the falling tide for these aquatic banded sea kraits (Laticauda colubrina) is this lone mangrove tree in the middle of the sea in the Great Sea Reef. The sandbar falls dry around the tree at low tide, which brings in a hair-raisingly huge number of sea kraits crawling up the mangrove roots once the water started receding. The local Fijians consider sea snakes to be their totem, but were petrified of them. Sea kraits are among the most venomous animals in the tropical Indo-Pacific. They hunt mainly for small fish, which they find in holes and crevices on the seafloor. There are 52 sea snake species known worldwide and only the banded sea kraits, Laticauda sp., leave the water frequently to rest, mate, and lay their eggs on land. Vanua Levu, Fiji DCIM\101MEDIA\DJI_0347.JPG OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Image credits:

  1. The right look by Richard Robinson
  2. Treefrog pool party by Brandon Guell
  3. The snake tree by Juergan Freund

  4. The dying lake by Daniel Nunez

  5. Polar frame by Dmitry Kokh
  6. Double interest by Scott Portelli

 Main image: Underwater wonderland by Tiina Tormanen

 

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Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London.

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