The Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 competition has revealed its highly commended images, featuring an extraordinary collection of photographs that capture everything from dramatic animal confrontations to alien-like organisms. The prestigious competition, developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London, received more than 60,000 entries from photographers across 113 countries worldwide.
Doug Gurr, Director of the Natural History Museum, emphasized that this year's images demonstrate the "diversity, beauty and complexity of the natural world and humanity's relationship to it." The photographs showcase a remarkable range of subjects, from intimate animal portraits to sweeping environmental landscapes, highlighting both the wonder of wildlife and the challenges facing our planet's ecosystems.
Among the standout images in the Animals in their Environment category is "Ice Edge Journey" by Bertie Gregory, capturing the poignant moment when fledgling emperor penguin chicks walk along the edge of an ice shelf in Antarctica. The Animal Portraits category features "Inside the Pack" by Amit Eshel, who braved temperatures of -35 degrees Celsius to photograph the elusive Arctic wolves of Ellesmere Island, Canada.
The Behaviour: Mammals category presents two particularly striking images. Marina Cano's "Deadly Lessons" shows a group of young cheetahs after they've successfully caught a Gunther's dik-dik in Kenya's Samburu National Reserve. Even more dramatic is Gabriella Comi's "Wake-up Call," which captures an intense stand-off between a lion and a venomous cobra in Tanzania, showcasing the raw tension of wildlife encounters.
In the Natural Artistry category, Kutub Uddin's "Slime Family Portrait" presents a fascinating glimpse into the microscopic world, featuring a line of alien-like slime molds, each measuring just 1-2 millimeters in diameter, arranged on a fallen tree. The Underwater category is represented by Ralph Pace's "Jelly Smack Summer," where the photographer found himself surrounded by a mass or "smack" of Pacific sea nettles.
The Urban Wildlife category highlights the intersection between human development and nature. Emmanuel Tardy's "No Place Like Home" shows a brown-throated three-toed sloth clinging tightly to a barbed wire fence post in Costa Rica, while Sitaram Raul's "Nature Reclaims Its Space" was captured in total darkness, showing fruit bats leaving their roost in the ruins of a historical monument.
Environmental themes are prominently featured in the Wetlands: The Bigger Picture category. Isaac Szabo's "Fragile River of Life" captures longnose gars spawning in a crystal-clear Florida river, while Jassen Todorov's "Clouds of Gold" presents the ethereal beauty of clouds reflecting in salt ponds that span San Francisco Bay.
The competition's Photojournalism category addresses pressing environmental issues through Lakshitha Karunarathna's "Toxic Tip," which shows a solitary Asian elephant navigating a waste disposal site in Sri Lanka, powerfully illustrating the impact of human activity on wildlife habitats.
Young photographers also made their mark across different age categories. In the 10 years and under division, Jamie Smart captured "Rutting Call," featuring a red deer stag giving a mighty bellow during the autumn rut in Bradgate Park, UK. The 11-14 years category includes Kesshav Vikram's "Essence of Kamchatka," expressing the character of the remote wilderness of Russia's Far East Kamchatka Peninsula, and Parham Pourahmad's "A Tale of Two Coyotes," which uses morning light to frame the amber eyes of a male coyote within the black-tipped tail of a female.
The 15-17 years category is represented by Leana Kuster's "Pink Pose," capturing a greater flamingo in the graceful act of scratching its head with one of its characteristically long legs, demonstrating the artistic eye of young wildlife photographers.
While these highly commended images offer a preview of the competition's exceptional quality, photography enthusiasts and nature lovers will have to wait until October 14 for the announcement of the category winners and the prestigious Grand Title award. The collection as a whole represents not only technical excellence in wildlife photography but also serves as a powerful reminder of the beauty and fragility of our natural world, encouraging viewers to consider their relationship with the environment and the importance of conservation efforts.
