‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020’ – Stunning Glimpse of the Animal Kingdom
The world-renowned Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020 has brought to the fore a brilliant gaze into the world of the animal kingdom. Every year this exhibition displays the world’s best nature photography, offering a platform for amateur and professional photographers alike. Around 50,000 artists submitted wildlife photographs in various categories from across the world this time around.
The exhibition of selected pictures from Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020 will open on 16 October at the Natural History Museum in London. The overall winners will be announced on 13 October, including the significant Grand Title winners. Given the pandemic situation, the award ceremony will be conducted virtually from the museum’s Hintze Hall.
Here are a few much loved selected images from the competition, enjoy!
Standing tall amidst an existential crisis, this lone tree oversees the catastrophes humankind can inflict on nature.
“Amazon Burning” by Charlie Hamilton James | Wildlife photojournalism, single image category
Suddenly appeared, the red squirrel made this picture of a pair of Ural owls soaking up the sun, even cuter.
“Surprise!” by Makoto Ando | Behavior, mammals category
These two common brushtail possums are probably playing peekaboo with their pals.
“Peeking possums” by Gary Meredith | Urban wildlife category
A hippopotamus emerges out of the mud pool, in a remnant of the drought-stricken Mara River in Kenya, to catch some fresh air.
“Eye of the drought” by José Fragozo | Animal portraits category
All siblings fight – look at these fox siblings fighting over a dead brown rat around north London.
“The rat game” by Matthew Maran | Mammals behavior category
Devouring the frogs’ eggs, this wandering spider with an 8 centimetre leg span was photographed around the stream in Manduriacu Reserve, north-west Ecuador.
“The spider’s supper” by Jaime Culebras | Invertebrates behavior category
Dead albatrosses remind of the poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” The image exhibits the deaths of seabirds caught in 2017 on longlines set by Japanese tuna-fishing boats off South Africa’s coast.
“Memorial to the albatrosses” by Thomas P Peschak | Wildlife photojournalism, single image category
Aptly titled, this photograph displays the reality of the bushmeat trade, where animals are tied and caged, awaiting slaughter.
“A risky business” by Quentin Martinez | Wildlife photojournalism, single image category
Where once stood boreal forest, is now a section of the Mildred Lake tar mine, expanding to the horizon, lacking any signs of greenery.
“World of tar” by Garth Lenz | Wildlife photojournalism, single image category
While they spend their days hiding in crevices among corals, the molluscs, reaching 15 centimetres across the base, venture out as night falls.
“The night shift” by Laurent Ballesta | Underwater category
A large male gharial being a safe ground for its offspring in the National Chambal Sanctuary in India’s Uttar Pradesh. The species is critically endangered – an estimated 650 adults are left, about 500 of them living in the sanctuary.
Head start by Dhritiman Mukherjee | Amphibians behavior
Standing proud against a backdrop of late-autumn southern beech forest, the Araucaria trees of the Araucanía region of Chile brings out an aesthetic quality in this photograph.
“The forest born of fire” by Andrea Pozzi | Plants and fungi category
High on the Alpstein massif of the Swiss Alps, the yellow-billed choughs take off, tearing the wind, amidst the moody sky and jagged, snow-capped mountains.
“Wind birds| by Alessandra Meniconzi | Birds behavior category
Also Read: The Best ‘Wildlife Photographs of the Year 2019’
After emerging from hibernation, this brown bear pulls a sockeye salmon from the shallows of a river in Alaska’s Katmai National Park, which is home to 2,200 brown bears.
“The perfect catch” by Hannah Vijayan | 15-17 years old category
The picture of the primate was taken near Don Tra Nature Reserve in Vietnam. Found only in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, the red-shanked douc is an endangered species.
“Treetop douc” by Arshdeep Singh | 11-14 years old category
A pair of Atlantic puffins clad in vibrant breeding colors is calmly posing for the picture on the Farne Islands.
“Paired-up puffins” by Evie Easterbook | 11-14 years old category
