National Geographic has just announced the results of its prestigious 2017 Nature Photographer of the Year photo contest (2016 here), and the best photos are the perfect celebration of Mother Earth. 11,000 stunning pictures were submitted from amateur and professional photographers, competing in four nature photography categories: wildlife, landscapes, aerials, and underwater.
The grand-prize winner will receive $7,500 and their winning image will appear in an upcoming issue of National Geographic magazine. Also, one first-place winner will be selected from each of the four categories, all of them earning $2,500. To feed your passion for the living world, Bored Panda has collected some of the amazing photos from the photography contest, presenting them together with its prizewinners. Scroll down to take a closer look at nature and upvote the beautiful photos you liked most.
More info: nationalgeographic.com
#1 Grand Prize Winner: Face To Face In A River In Borneo, Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan
A male orangutan peers from behind a tree while crossing a river in Borneo, Indonesia. Rampant palm oil cultivation threatens this critically endangered ape, forcing the normally arboreal species to resort to unusual behavior—such as wading through crocodile-infested rivers—in order to survive.
287points
#2 Pied Falconet Family, Kant Liang
Pied Falconet is a species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae. They're very small (
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277points
#3 The Lion In The Sea Of Flowers, Ge Xiao
Early in the morning, the young male lion came to the dense flower sea, and he felt very satisfied. Swinging his head in the breeze, I took the picture.
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266points
#4 One Happy Seal Model, Lars Lykke
Went to the very north of Denmark, skagen, at sunrise and found this willing model.
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266points
#6 There Is Always Room For One More, Eivor Kuchta
How many Mountain Goats can fit on this rock, if you start stacking them on top of each other? Mount Evans, Colorado, USA
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264points
#7 Stealthy Eyes, Melissa Stevens
Ever get the feeling you're being watched? The hair on the back of your neck starts to stand on end, you're checking your surroundings, you look up to see the glorious mountain beast and stare into the soul of this amazing creature while he's carefully analyzing your every move...
257points
#8 Liquid Bear, Mike Korostelev
Bear from the water Kamchatka, Russia
240points
#9 Tornado, Anuar Patjane Floriuk
Bigeye Trevally forming a "tornado" at Cabo Pulmo National Park, Mexico
. A few years ago, local fisherman decided to stop fishing and bet all on ecotourism. That bet was successful economically, socially, and ecologically speaking. What used to be an almost lifeless place now has a complete life chain, even bull sharks are back and orcas come and visit often. Cabo Pulmo is a true example that by letting the ocean recover, it will do so by itself.
234points
#10 Crowded, Martin Olson
As the only wild animals being herded in Sweden, once a year the reindeers of the different communities are gathered and separated by their owners and moved to better pastures for the winter. Since thousands of animals are gathered and then divided into handling facility sections, the process may take several days.
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197points
#11 First Place Winner, Landscapes: Firefall, Karim Iliya
Shortly before twilight in Kalapana, Hawai’i, a fragment of the cooled lava tube broke away, leaving the molten rock to fan in a fiery spray for less than half an hour before returning to a steady flow.
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171points
#12 Play Time, Chandrashekar Kalyanasundaram
On the morning drive in the forests of pench tiger reserve, i found this little one practising his skills. These skills would help him in growing into adulthood successfully. the backlight made this fraqme more interesting. Waiting for the right moment, i clicked this image.
153points
#13 Sneeeze!, M. Engelmann
Galapagos Marine Iguanas sneeze to expel excess salt water after they feed in the ocean.
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149points
#14 People's Choice, Landscapes: Kalsoy, Wojciech Kruczyński
Sunset illuminates a lighthouse and rainbow in the Faroe Islands.
147points
#15 No Ordinary Bear, Andy S.
When all other bears are asleep for the winter, in a remote part of the yukon, one mother has learned that the river in her territory does not freeze and the fish keep coming into late november. covered in ice as her wet coat freezes in the -25C air temperatures, she raises her family in the most extreme of conditions.
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141points
#16 People's Choice: Game Of Stars, Pedro Carrillo
134points
#17 Curves, Ian Nelson
I spotted a moray eel while free-diving off the coast of Maui. I followed the eel from a distance, watching it slither through the reef peering into each dark hole it came across. Finally, the eel found what it was looking for and darted its head into a dark hole and started aggressively attacking. Dark ink shot out and octopus legs begin reaching out of the hole. Out came an octopus darting away from the eel right toward my lens, pausing briefly infront of me before darting off again.
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133points
#18 Second Place Winner, Wildlife: Mother's Love, Alejandro Prieto
An adult Caribbean pink flamingo feeds a chick in Yucatán, Mexico. Both parents alternate feeding chicks, at first with a liquid baby food called crop milk, and then with regurgitated food.
131points
#19 Swimming Over The Sleepers, Franco Banfi
Free diver swimming over a pod of sleeping sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, Vulnerable (IUCN). The sperm whale is the largest of the toothed whales. Sperm whales are known to dive as deep as 1,000 meters in search of squid to eat. Image has been shot in Dominica, Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean.
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128points
#20 Lavender Waves, Ernie Black
ERNIE BLACK, ERNIE BLACK
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