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Seeking some eye candy? Look no further than these highly commended images submitted to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London, which is putting on an exhibition of the photos from Friday, October 11, 2024 through June 29, 2025.
Photo: Georgina Steytler / Wildlife Photographer of the Year This dramatic macro view of Dawson’s burrowing bees shows males all attempting to mate with a female.
Photo: Xingchao Zhu / Wildlife Photographer of the Year Pallas’s cats are a species of wild cat native to cold swaths of Asia, like Inner Mongolia. Here, one cat is seen just after catching a small bird (squashed beneath its paws), with the setting moon behind it.
Photo: William Fortescue / Wildlife Photographer of the Year In this freeze frame, you may be duped into thinking these lions are in an argument. Perhaps so, but they’re also post-coitus, having mated several times before this photo was taken. If you look closely, you can see tendrils of saliva and flying insects between the large cats.
Photo: Tommy Trenchard / Wildlife Photographer of the Year This requiem shark had the misfortune of being bycatch of a fishing boat in the South Atlantic Ocean. The shark is captured contorting its body as it fights against the hook. About 80 million sharks are removed from the ocean each year. Today, about 75% of all shark species at risk of extinction.
Photo: Thomas Vijayan / Wildlife Photographer of the Year A drone shot captures the majesty and mammoth size of a glacier in Norway. The image itself is a composite of 26 individual frames, capturing a glacier that is part of Austfonna, the third largest ice cap in Europe. Meltwater can be seen pouring off the top of the glacier, turning some of the sea into a combination of lighter blues and white.
Photo: Theo Bosboom / Wildlife Photographer of the Year Collections of mussels on the coast of Portugal are seen here, sticking together to avoid being washed to sea. At first glance, the invertebrates could be mistaken for crows of penguins seen from afar.
Photo: Tamara Stubbs And Atlantic Productions / Wildlife Photographer of the Year Ah, to be a crabeater seal, napping amongst the sea ice. That’s the situation of the two pinnipeds seen here, bobbing in the frigid waters of the Weddell Sea. It looks quite serene—dare I say, better than a desk job?
Photo: Shreyovi Mehta / Wildlife Photographer of the Year Two peafowl are silhouetted by light illuminating a break in the trees of Rajasthan’s Keoladeo National Park. To each their own, but this is my favorite shot of the highly commend selection.
Photo: Sasha Jumanca / Wildlife Photographer of the Year In this shot, two tawny owlets sit on a tree branch in a German park. One owlet’s eyes are nearly shut, while the other leans towards its partner, curiously looking at the photographer’s camera.
Photo: Samual Stone / Wildlife Photographer of the Year A jackdaw is seen here carrying several stones in its beak. No, it’s not for digestion. The bird is bringing the stones to its nest; according to a competition release, the photographer also saw the birds bringing deer hair back to their nest.
Photo: Randy Robbins / Wildlife Photographer of the Year A dead, frost-covered deer is seen here on the forest floor near Susanville, California.
Photo: Lam Soon Tak / Wildlife Photographer of the Year A David Bowie spider is seen between two branches in Malaysia. Named for the late British pop star by an arachnologist and Bowie enthusiast, the markings on the spider’s head bear a passing resemblance to one of Bowie’s makeup routines.
Photo: Jose Manuel Grandío / Wildlife Photographer of the Year A stoat leaps above the snow in this dynamic shot. Taken in France, the stoat’s motivations are not clear. The behavior is referred to as “dancing” by scientists, but it may be caused by anything from parasitic infections to a way of confusing prey.
