2023 Annual Stocktake
From a delicate bag of salamander eggs to a forest lit up by fireflies, the winning images of these annual competitions highlight the importance of conservation. From quiet moments of peace between mother and child, to predator-prey battles in cold waters, ** from some of the best photographers from around the world are on display at the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Whether it's capturing wildlife that needs our help, or allowing us to see the impact of human development, the photography in this competition is designed to help foster respect for the planet, advance scientific research, and spread awareness of environmental damage. This year, several National Geographic photographers received awards for their work that showcases the fragile position of animals in a world altered by humans. Here's our favourites from this year's competition**, and check out the full list of winners here.
Get a closer look at part of the buffalo's face and torso as it raises a shower of snowflakes.
Max Waugh captured the bison running through the snow in Yellowstone National Park. Bison roamed North America, numbering between 50 and 60 million in the early 1800s and less than 10 million by the end of the century. Today, their numbers are slowly increasing through careful conservation efforts.
An underwater silver carp is surrounded by a school of smaller red fish with a rectangular pebble in its mouth. Isaac Szabo photographed the different species that congregate near a silver carp nest in a freshwater stream in Whitetop Laurel Creek, Virginia. During spring spawning, male pufferfish sometimes carry rocks and pebbles up to 33 feet away, forming a mound to hide from currents and predators. Other minoan species also use their nests to keep their eggs safe.
Backlit mushrooms release clouds of spore in the forest.
Parasol mushrooms in Mount Olympus, Greece, release billions of spores from the folds under the cap. The spores are airborne and some will land where there is moisture and food, allowing them to grow a web beneath the forest floor. Photographer Agorastos Papatsanis carefully photographed this in the rain**, which helps to highlight the spores in the image.
Trumpet birds lined up and watched a large python glide by, their back with gray wings.
It took Hadrien Lalagüe six months to capture the perfect footage of a gray-winged trumpet bird watching a large python glide by. In the rainforest surrounding the Guyana Space Center in French Guiana, trumpet birds spend most of their time foraging on the forest floor, eating ripe fruits, insects, and occasionally small snakes. However, this python may have eaten them.
The dense jungle is broken by a wide corridor of trees bulldozing out.
In this photo, Mexican photographer Fernando Constantine Martínez Belma shows how a new cross-country tourist railway line is destroying the natural landscape of Pamur, Quintana Roo. The railway will bring economic benefits to southeastern Mexico, but it will also destroy ecosystems, threaten protected areas and archaeological sites, and affect indigenous peoples by destroying their lands.
At night, a lowland tapir cautiously emerges from the rainforest.
Vishnu Gopal captured the lowland tapir carefully walking out of the rainforest near Tapiraj in São Paulo, Brazil. Lowland tapirs rely on forests for fruits and other vegetation, and in turn, tapirs keep plant populations healthy by dispersing seeds through dung. This vital relationship is threatened by habitat loss, illegal hunting, and traffic accidents.
A three-spined horseshoe crab moves slowly on the dirt floor. Its golden protective carapace hides 12 appendages. Above the horseshoe crabs, three juvenile golden trevally are preparing to fly down to hunt for edible food that the horseshoe crabs plow as they pass by.
Marine biologist and National Geographic explorer Laurent Ballesta photographed this ** of the Horseshoe Crab in the waters of Pongatalan, Philippines, where they are protected. The species has survived for more than 100 million years but is now endangered, in part because its blood plays a key role in vaccine development. Read more here. Three small fish, known as the golden trevally or golden totoaba fish, follow the crab to see if it will kick out something edible.
A dramatic cliff clash between two Nubian ibos.
Amit Eshel captures the dramatic cliff clash between two Nubian ibos in the Israeli-Zin desert. The battle lasted about 15 minutes, with one of them surrendering and two parting ways, neither seriously injured. Before the mating season, males fight by lifting themselves on their hind legs and banging their heads together, sometimes breaking their horns when they collide.
A young hippopotamus huddles tightly around its mother underwater, and behind the mother and juvenile hippopotamus, a part of a younger hippopotamus can be seen.
For two years, Mike Korosterev has been observing hippos in this lake near Kosi Bay in South Africa. It took him just 20 seconds underwater to shoot this from a safe distance, without alarming his mother and her two calves. Hippos give birth to a baby hippopotamus every two to three years. Their populations are growing slowly and are particularly vulnerable to habitat degradation, drought and illegal hunting for their meat and ivory.
A bird's-eye view shows the carcass of an antelope trapped in muddy shallow water, with a group of catfish congregating nearby while others begin to feed on the carcass.
Piocr Neskrecki's capture of a pod of African sharp-toothed catfish searching for food from a deadly waterbuck stuck in the mud illustrates the cyclical nature of life in Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park. Sharptooth catfish are omnivorous, and they can survive for days after leaving the water due to the air-breathing organs on their gills. If they end up dying while waiting for the rains to return, they provide food for other species.
In the underwater landscape, a cluster of spotted salamander eggs perches on a bed of peat moss in a spring pool.
Steven Johnson highlights a spotted salamander egg perched on a bed of peat moss in a spring pool near Shenandoah National Park. Seasonal shallow pools like these are ideal breeding grounds for amphibians as they are protected from predators such as fish. But these habitats are affected by environmental changes: difficult spring rains cause pools to dry up before the young salamanders are fully developed and live on land.
The silhouettes of the trees glow yellow under the light of fireflies.
Darkness is essential for fireflies to find mates, which makes them particularly vulnerable to light pollution. It is estimated that 83% of humans live under light-polluted skies. Sriram Murali shows a forest lit up by fireflies in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve in India.