A dancing stoat, a jaguar’s killing blow to a caiman and a colorful David Bowie spider are among the sneak peek of stunning images selected by this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year jury.
For 2024’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, London’s Natural History Museum drew a record-breaking 59,228 entries from photographers of all ages across 117 countries.
The images were anonymously judged by a panel based on their creativity, originality and technical excellence, according to the competition organizers.
The winners in each category will be announced on Oct. 8, and 100 of the competition’s best photographs will be exhibited at London’s Natural History Museum from Oct. 11.
Twist and jump
Jose Manual Grandío camped out in below-zero temperatures at Athose, in France’s Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, to capture this stoat leaping into the air above fresh snow.
The display, which Grandío saw as an “expression of exuberance,” splits scientists as to its motivations — with some saying it is an attempt to confuse prey and others saying it is the result of a parasitic infection. Nonetheless, the behavior is referred to as dancing.
Going with the floe
Tamara Stubbs was sailing on a nine-week expedition to Antarctica’s Weddell Sea when she spotted these crabeater seals napping beside her ship. These two — among some four million seals of their species in the Antarctic — had bobbed to the surface to take a deeper breath, their nostril tips poked above the water’s surface.
Hooked
Tommy Trenchard was traveling on the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise in the South Atlantic Ocean when he snapped this shot of a requiem shark being caught accidentally by a ship fishing for swordfish and tuna. The shark, its body twisting in a final gesture of defiance, is among 80 million sharks snatched from the world’s oceans each year — a practice which has caused shark populations to plummet and placed three-quarters of all shark species at risk of extinction.
Moonlight Hunter
Xingchao Zhu tracked a group of Pallas cats across the frozen plateaus of Inner Mongolia during February 2023’s Chinese New Year to capture this shot. Taken just before dawn, Xingchao’s shot shows a Pallas cat making eye contact as it snatches a small bird.
Ziggy Spider
Lam Soon Tak was trekking across the highlands of Malaysia when he encountered this David Bowie spider clinging to some broken branches beside a river. Named by its discoverer and David Bowie fan Dr Peter Jäger in 2008 due to the Ziggy Stardust-like markings on its head, the spider is clutching a bright white egg sac in its jaws.
Deadly Bite
Ian Ford was in Brazil’s Pantanal wetland when a call over the radio alerted him to a jaguar prowling the banks of a São Lourenço River tributary. Kneeling in his boat, Ford was at the perfect location to snap the big cat delivering a skull-shattering bite to the back of a yacare caiman’s head.
In the Spotlight
Shreyovi Mehta was walking in Keoladeo National Park, India with her parents when she saw this scene. After running back to her dad to collect her camera and lying down on the ground, she snapped this shot from a low angle — two peafowls that had exited the shade at the day’s close to search for food in the clearing.
As Clear as Crystal
Jason Gulley was swimming in Florida’s Crystal River when he came upon this scene, a mother manatee floating in the stream with her calf, bubbles trailing from its flippers.
Stormy Scene
William Fortescue was in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park when he snapped this shot — a female lion breaking off an attempt by a male lion to mate with a warning from her powerful jaws. The backdrop of billowing storm clouds — brewing during the park’s rainy season — adds to the brooding atmosphere of the scene.
Wildlife Photography of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London
