From birds bathing in what resembles a pool party to a sloth reclining on a train in the Atlantic rainforest, these are the stunning images nominated for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards.
Nature fans can vote for their favourite from 24 images selected from almost 50,000 submissions across 92 countries.
The breathtaking photos include a pair of curious brown bears on their hind legs in Russia, a too-close-for-comfort leopard in Tanzania and the touching moment an infant orangutan lays its small hand in the big hand of its mother in Borneo.
Other shortlisted images include a ranger’s bloody hand resting on a heavily grained ivory tusk in South Africa and a rescuer cuddling a gorilla that had been captured and was going to be sold for bush meat in Cameroon.
They are on display at the Natural History Museum in London until the vote closes, and the winner of the People’s Choice Award will be showcased until the whole exhibition closes on May 28.
‘Leopard gaze’ by Martin van Lokven: During a three-week stay in the Serengeti national park, Tanzania, the photographer encountered this female leopard called ‘Fundi’ several times. Late one afternoon, Fundi left the tree she was resting in and stopped by Martin’s car, staring him down
The brothers’ by Marco Urso: Millions of salmon spawn each year at Kuril Lake in the southern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, attracting large numbers of brown bears. Marco noticed how curious these two brown bears were and was able to capture the moment when they both stood up on their hind legs to watch what he was doing‘Sloth hanging out’ by Luciano Candisani: Luciano had to climb the cecropia tree, in the protected Atlantic rainforest of southern Bahia, Brazil, to take an eye-level shot of this three-toed sloth. Sloths like to feed on the leaves of these trees, and so they are often seen high up in the canopyDark side of the plains’ by Uri Golman: The photographer dedicated a whole week to black-and-white photography on the plains of the Maasai Mara, Kenya, and had spent many days taking pictures of big cats. After a long day he suddenly came across six giraffes walking in formation. He decided to follow them for a while, and when three broke off and headed into the shadows he took this remarkable shot‘Roller rider’ by Lakshitha Karunarathna: Lakshitha was on safari in Maasai Mara national reserve, Kenya, when he spotted an unusual sight – a lilac-breasted roller riding a zebra. Normally they prefer to perch high up in the foliage, but this roller spent an hour or more riding around and enjoying the occasional insect meal‘Hammerhead’ by Adriana Basques: The photographer had the advantage of a sunny day and good visibility with ample natural lighting. When a school of cottonmouth jacks came into view. a hammerhead soon appeared and stayed just long enough for her to capture a full frame with the school of cottonmouths in the background‘Kick back and chill’ by Alan Chung: After more than two hours hiking with rangers in Volcanoes national park, Rwanda, Alan came across the ‘Hirwa’ family group (meaning ‘the lucky one’). This group of 16 mountain gorillas is led by a single strong silverback. They were feeding on young bamboo shoots and relaxing in a leafy open spot
Grooming the descendant’ by Claudio Contreras Koob: This fluffy Caribbean flamingo chick is less than five days old and is being preened by one of its parents in the Ría Lagartos biosphere reserve, in Yucatán, Mexico. Chicks remain in the nest for less than a week; they then wander around the colony in crèches and start to feed for themselves, although their parents still continue to feed them for several months. The flamingo colony is highly sensitive to human presence, so Claudio could only approach the colony on all fours while hiding underneath a camo throw-over
