The 61st Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest is underway. Run by London’s Natural History Museum, the annual worldwide competition is one of the most revered in nature photography. This week, the museum unveiled 15 of this year’s “highly commended” entries.
No Place Like Home. Photo: Emmanuel Tardy
As always, these photos show our often complicated relationship with nature and the growing effects of climate change, growing populations, and changing landscapes. No Place Like Home, shot by Emmanuel Tardy, shows a heartbreaking sight from Costa Rica. A brown-throated three-toed sloth can be seen clutching a barbed-wire fence, a desperate stand-in for its missing trees.
A Tale of Two Coyotes. Photo: Parham Pourahmad
Toxic Tip. Photo: Lakshitha Karunarathna
Further highlighting the impact of humans on wildlife, Lakshitha Karunarathna’s aerial photo Toxic Tip shows a solitary Asian elephant picking through a sea of plastic at a waste-disposal site in Sri Lanka.
Pink Pose. Photo: Leana Kuster
Ice Edge Journey. Photo: Bertie Gregory
A frightening first step
Meanwhile, after watching the colony for two months, Bertie Gregory managed to snap a group of fledgling emperor penguins nervously waddling toward the edge of an Antarctic ice shelf, getting ready to take their frightening first leap into an ice-choked ocean lead.
Essence of Kamchatka. Photo: Kesshav Vikram
Wake-up Call. Photo: Gabriella Comi
In Tanzania’s Serengeti, Gabriella Comi’s Wake-up Call captures the moment two deadly adversaries come face to face. She watched as a cobra slithered into a sleeping pride of lions. Almost immediately, one of the big cats was face-to-face with the venomous snake.
Fragile River of Life. Photo: Isaac Szabo
Nature Reclaims Its Space. Photo: Sitaram Raul
Other images include Nature Reclaims Its Space by Sitaram Raul. Raul caught the dramatic exodus of fruit bats from a dilapidated historical monument in Maharashtra, India. On the other side of the globe, Ralph Pace was slathering petroleum jelly on the only sections of his body not covered by a wetsuit so that he could photograph jellyfish. Jelly Smack Summer documents a “smack” of Pacific sea nettles off California’s coast.
Jelly Smack Summer. Photo: Ralph Pace
Rutting Call. Photo: Jamie Smart (UK)
Macro shot of a micro ‘forest’
Elsewhere, Kutub Uddin’s Slime Family Portrait zooms into a West Sussex woodland to capture slime mold. Only a few millimeters wide, the community of single-celled organisms looks like tiny blueberries sitting atop stalks. Also in the UK, Jamie Smart photographed a red deer stag bellowing for female attention near Leicester.
Slime Family Portrait. Photo: Kutub Uddin
Special Delivery. Photo: Bidyut Kalita
The rest of the 15 photos show equally breathtaking moments from all corners of the globe, all capturing a rare moment in nature. A record-breaking 60,636 photos were submitted this year, and the winning images will be announced on October 14.
Clouds of Gold. Photo: Jassen Todorov
These 15 images will be among the final 100 shown in an exhibition at the Natural History Museum. It will open just days after the winners are announced, then eventually head out on an international tour.