{"id":313369,"date":"2026-02-23T18:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/313369\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T18:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:06:10","slug":"world-nature-photography-awards-2026-image-of-ultra-rare-white-whale-scoops-top-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/313369\/","title":{"rendered":"World Nature Photography Awards 2026: Image of ultra-rare white whale scoops top prize"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. Rolex\u2019s Perpetual Planet Initiative<\/a> has partnered with CNN to drive awareness and education around key sustainability issues and to inspire positive action.\n<\/p>\n

\n An image of a rare white humpback whale calf and its mother won top prize at the 2026 World Nature Photography Awards.\n <\/p>\n

\n Taken by Jono Allen, who received a cash prize of $1,000, the Australian described the day he photographed the duo as \u201ca memory that will live with me forever\u201d and \u201ca truly life-changing encounter.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Albinism among humpback whales is extremely rare, with as few as one in 40,000 born<\/a> with the condition, which affects skin pigmentation. The calf Allen photographed, called M\u00e3hina, was first spotted in the summer of 2024<\/a>, in Vava\u2019u, Tonga, where Allen also observed it. The whale\u2019s name means \u201cmoon\u201d in Tongan.\n <\/p>\n

\n Humpback whale populations are increasing according to the most recent assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature\u2019s Red List<\/a>, which describes it as a species of \u201cleast concern.\u201d Its recovery is put down to a curbing of commercial whaling in the 20th and 21st century.\n <\/p>\n

\n Though its population has increased to around 135,000 as of 2018, \ufeffthe humpback whale is experiencing changes, including shifts in its epic migration<\/a> in the southern hemisphere. Scientists say whales are migrating weeks earlier<\/a> than in previous decades as a result of a warming Southern Ocean affecting food supplies.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n The World Nature Photography Awards received entries from 51 countries. Other category winners included a female gorilla observing a butterfly in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda, a Namaqua chameleon weathering a sandstorm in the Namid Desert, Namibia, and a polar bear investigating a pile of e-waste in Manitoba, Canada. Entries for next year\u2019s prize are already being accepted.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,308,93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-313369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}