Now in its 55th year, Wildlife Photographer of the Year has announced the first cut of highly-commended images that have made it into the final stretch of the London Natural History Museum’s showcase for the world's 100 best nature photography and photojournalism photos.

1. 295,220 views | Sep 9, 2019, 03:47pm
Wildlife Photographer Of The Year: 10
Stunning Shortlisted Images
Arts
Cecilia Rodriguez Senior Contributor
Last gasp: Behaviour, Mammals category. A days-old hippo was with his mother in Lake Kariba, ... [+] ADRIAN HIRSCHI,
SWITZERLAND - WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Now in its 55th year, Wildlife Photographer of the Year has announced the first cut of
highly-commended images that have made it into the final stretch of the London
Natural History Museum’s showcase for the world's 100 best nature photography and
photojournalism photos.

2. “Great images of nature transform the way people look at the natural world, challenge
opinion and stimulate debate,” the organizers explain. “Through their ability to inspire
curiosity and wonder, the 100 images showcase wildlife photography as an art form and
challenge us to consider both our place in the natural world and our responsibility to
protect it.”
The winning images are selected for their creativity, originality and technical excellence
This year's competition attracted almost 50,000 entries from professionals and
amateurs across 100 countries.
A sleeping seal, a zombie beetle and a tragic turtle are just some of the captivating and
emotion-triggering entries.
Today In: Lifestyle
'For more than 50 years, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition has
attracted the world's very best photographers, naturalists and young photographers,”
says Dr Tim Littlewood, Director of Science at the Natural History Museum and memb
of the judging panel. “But there has never been a more important time for audiences all
over the world to experience their work in our inspiring and impactful exhibition.
Photography has a unique ability to spark conversation, debate and even action. We
hope this year's exhibition will empower people to think differently about our planet an
our critical role in its future.”
After the flagship exhibition opening at the competition's home, the Natural History
Museum, the images will embark on a U.K. and international tour, bringing the beauty
and fragility of the natural world to millions beyond London.
Associate sponsors for the upcoming exhibition at the museum are renewable energy
company Ørsted and digital camera manufacturer, Panasonic LUMIX.
The winners will be announced at the Natural History Museum’s iconic Hintze Hall in
London on October 15 and will be displayed in the museum’s world-renowned
exhibition opening three days later.

3. The 2020 competition, open to photographers of all ages and abilities, starts on Octobe
21 and closes at 11.30am GMT on December 12, 2019.
Lucky break: Urban Wildlife category. PHOTO: JASON BANTLE, CANADA - WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
An ever-adaptable raccoon pokes her bandit-masked face out of a 1970s Ford Pinto on
deserted farm in Saskatchewan, Canada.
In the back seat, her five playful kits trill with excitement. The only access to the car wa
through the small hole in the cracked safety glass of the windshield. The gap was
blunt-edged but too narrow for a coyote (the primary predator of raccoons in the area),
making this an ideal place for a mother raccoon to raise a family.
On that evening, she paused at the exit to check the surroundings and she then squeeze
out to spend the night looking for food – anything from fruit, nuts and eggs to
invertebrates and small vertebrates.

4. Cool drink: Behaviour Birds Category. PHOTO: DIANA REBMAN, USA - WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
On a bitterly cold morning on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, a flock of long-tailed tit
and marsh tits were gathered around a long icicle hanging from a branch, taking turns
nibbling the tip.
Here, a Hokkaido long-tailed tit hovers for a split second to take its turn to break off a
beakful from an icicle. If the sun came out and a drop of water formed, the tit next ‘in
line’ would sip rather than nip. The rotation of activity was so fast-moving that it almos
seemed choreographed.

5. The climbing dead: Plants and Fungi category. FRANK DESCHANDOL - WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
On a night in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, this bizarre-looking weevil was clinging
to a fern stem. Its glazed eyes showed it was dead and the three antennae-like
projections growing out of its thorax were the ripe fruiting bodies of a ‘zombie fungus.’
Spreading inside the weevil while it was alive, the parasitic fungus had taken control of
its muscles and compelled it to climb. When it was at a suitable height for the fungus,
the weevil held fast to the stem.
Fueled by the weevil’s insides, the fungus then started to grow fruiting bodies topped by
capsules that would release a multitude of tiny spores to infect new prey. Similar zombi
fungi are known to create parasites other insects.

6. If penguins could fly: Behaviour: Mammals category. EDUARDO DEL ÁLAMO, SPAIN - WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
A gentoo penguin – the fastest underwater swimmer of all penguins – flees for its life a
a leopard seal bursts out of the water. The penguin made it off the ice, but the seal now
seemed to turn the hunt into a game.
Leopard seals are formidable predators. Females can be 11½ feet long and weigh more
than 1,100 pounds, males slightly less. Their slender bodies are built for speed, with
wide jaws bearing long canines and sharply pointed molars. They hunt almost anything
from fish to the pups of other seal species.
They also play with their prey, as in this instance, with the leopard seal pursuing the
penguin for more than 15 minutes before finally catching and eating it.

7. Touching trust: Wildlife Photojournalism category. PHOTO: THOMAS P PESCHAK, GERMANY/SOUTH AFRICA- WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER O
THE YEAR
A curious young grey whale approaches a pair of hands reaching down from a tourist
boat. In San Ignacio Lagoon, on the coast of Mexico’s Baja California, baby grey whales
and their mothers actively seek contact with people for a head scratch or back rub.
The lagoon is one of three that comprise a grey whale nursery and sanctuary – a key
winter breeding ground for this surviving population of eastern North Pacific grey
whales.
Whaling left the western population near extinction and wiped out those of the North
Atlantic. Persecution may also have led to the whales’ aggression towards boats and in
San Ignacio, a long-lasting fear among local fishermen.
But in the 1970s, a young whale approached a fisherman who dared to reach out and
touch it. The trust between whales and humans grew and today many females actively
encourage their calves to interact with people.

8. The fishermen have also gained a whale-watching income in winter, now vital as fish
populations and therefore catches decline.
In San Ignacio Lagoon, a World Heritage Site, whale-watching is carefully managed by
the community: limited boats, no winter fishing and interaction only if the whales
choose it.
Just a few years ago, the community, with international support, also won a lengthy
battle to stop a global corporation from building a salt plant in the lagoon. In this
sanctuary, it’s the wild animals that call the shots.
Sleeping like a Weddell: Black and White category. PHOTO: RALF SCHNEIDER - WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Hugging its flippers tightly to its body, the Weddell seal closed its eyes and appeared to
fall into a deep sleep. Lying on “fast ice” (ice attached to land) off Larsen Harbour, Sout
Georgia, it was relatively safe from its predators – killer whales and leopard seals – and
so could completely relax and digest.
Weddell seals are the world’s most southerly breeding mammals, populating inshore
habitats around the Antarctic continent. Reaching lengths of up to 11½ feet, with the
females somewhat larger than the males, their large bodies are covered in a thick layer
of blubber to keep them warm above and below the icy waters of the Southern Ocean.

9. Feeding mainly on large fish, Weddell seals are impressive divers, capable of descendin
to more than 1,640 feet, with great reserves of the oxygen-binding protein myoglobin in
their muscles. This helps them to hunt under water for long periods, sometimes for
more than an hour.
Jelly baby: Underwater category PHOTO: FABIEN MICHENET, FRANCE- WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEA
A juvenile jackfish peers from inside a small jellyfish off Tahiti in French Polynesia. Wi
nowhere to hide in the open ocean, it has adopted the jelly as an overnight traveling
shelter, slipping under the umbrella and possibly immune to the stinging tentacles,
which deter potential predators.
It’s not clear if a jelly derives any benefit or why the relationship breaks down when
water acidifies. Zooplankton migrate up from the deep under cover of darkness to feed
on surface-dwelling phytoplankton (which need sunlight), and other predators stream
after them.

10. Big cat and dog spat: Behavior Mammals Category PETER HAYGARTH, UK - WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
In a rare encounter, a lone male cheetah is set upon by a pack of African wild dogs –
both species have disappeared from much of their former ranges, with fewer than 7,00
left of each, mainly due to habitat loss and fragmentation – in Zimanga Private Game
Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
A warthog had just escaped the pack when the leading dogs came across the big cat. At
first, the dogs were wary, but as the rest of the 12-strong pack arrived, their confidence
grew, and they began to encircle the cat, chirping with excitement. The elderly cheetah
hissed and lunged back at the mob, his left ear tattered, the right one pinned back in th
ruckus. As dust flew in the morning light, in a few minutes the spat was over as the
cheetah fled.

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Beach waste: Wildlife Photojournalism category. PHOTO: MATTHEW WARE, USA - WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
From a distance, the beach scene at Alabama’s Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge
looked appealing: blue sky, soft sand and a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle. But as the
photographer and the patrol team got closer, they could see the fatal noose around the
turtle’s neck attached to the washed-up beach chair.
The Kemp’s ridley is not only one of the smallest sea turtles – just two feet long – it’s
also the most endangered. Over the past 50 years, human activities – from egg and mea
consumption to incidental capture in fishing nets – have greatly reduced its numbers.
Today, despite protection of its limited nesting sites along the western coast of the Gulf
of Mexico and a requirement for trawlers to use turtle-excluders, it’s still under threat.
Another danger is injury or drowning resulting from the huge amount of discarded
fishing gear and rubbish that ends up in the ocean.