Nature is beautiful, and hardly anyone can argue against that. However, the instances of beauty can vary: some are common, and some are very rare to find. The pictures we show to you here today are very rare and hard to come across, which is why the work of professional wildlife and nature photographers is so valuable to everyone.
Nature TTL have announced their photographers of the year 2021, and the photos that were awarded are simply breathtaking. Over 8000 photos competed in animal behavior, wildlife portraits, camera traps, underwater, landscape, night sky and other categories. They have also awarded the junior photographers, whose work is as good as professional ones'. This year's Photographer of the Year title was awarded to Canadian Thomas Vijayan for his photo of an orangutan going up a tree, which looks like an optical illusion, but we can assure you that it's as real as it gets.
#1 "Floral Bath Tub" By Mousam Ray
Highly Commended in the Animal Behavior category.
"In India, the autumn days are hot and humid but the nights are pleasant. In the morning, dewdrops are found on the edge of grass, flowers, and sometimes water is stored in the flower petals. A Crimson Sunbird female is seen refreshing herself with the water which is stored in the petal of an ornamental banana flower. This is showing a very rare behavior, and is as if nature creates a floral bathtub for her."
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43points
#2 "Dust Bath" By Bence Máté
Highly Commended in the Animal Behavior category.
"Wild dog pups play in the dust seen rising from the bone dry soil. I tracked them for 5 weeks and photographed them in some fascinating situations in South Africa."
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39points
#3 "Starry Night" By Bence Máté
Highly Commended in the Camera Trap category.
"The shadow of fallow deer sketches in front of the starry skies. Within the 45 seconds this image was taken, the movement of the deer covered different parts of the skies, resulting in a ghostly effect."
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39points
#4 "Sleepy Polar Bear" By Dennis Stogsdill
Winner in the Wild Portraits category.
"We were watching this rather photogenic polar bear for a while in Svalbard, Norway, when he climbed a ridge and decided to just rest. All the while the soft afternoon skies created the perfect backdrop for a 'sleepy bear'."
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37points
#5 "Fun For All Ages" By Thomas Vijayan
Highly Commended in the Animal Behavior category.
"One afternoon a group of black-footed grey langurs were sitting on a tree. But this playful infant was enjoying the family time and was playing with his parents by swinging on their tails and falling down, and then immediately climbing back and starting all over again. His mother was taking little notice of the activity and other adolescents were tolerating the attention-seeking acrobatics.
Langurs are very social and youngsters play as often as they can. Acrobatic play is probably a way of practicing tree-living and eventually helps them to develop strong bones and muscles. Playing also helps them to develop social bonds and communication skills."
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36points
#6 "The World Is Going Upside Down" By Thomas Vijayan
Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2021; Winner in the Animal Behavior category.
"After spending few days in Borneo, I got this frame stuck in my mind. To get this shot, I selected a tree that was in the water so that I could get a good reflection of the sky and its leaves on the tree. The water formed a mirror, making the image look upside-down.
Then I climbed up on the tree and waited for hours. This is a regular path for the orangutans to use, so patience would surely pay off."
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35points
#7 "Bled" By Tomasz Rojek
Highly Commended in the Landscape category.
"October morning at Lake Bled, Slovenia. I have visited this place many times and I have seen a lot of pictures of this place but the conditions this morning were great. Clouds and mist created a spectacular view."
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34points
#8 "Bluebottle Sunrise" By Grant Thomas
Highly Commended in the Underwater category.
"Thousands of bluebottle jellyfish regularly wash up all along the Sydney coastline. They collect in shallow rock pools that offer perfect shooting conditions during sunrise.
With their electric blue-colored bodies and yellow-tipped tentacles, they contrast beautifully against the dark water background – but be careful as those long tangling tentacles can deliver a nasty sting."
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30points
#9 "Family Outing" By Thomas Cawdron
Highly Commended in the Camera Trap category.
"A family of foxes was regularly passing through my garden using a gap in my fence as a passageway. It was the perfect opportunity for me to experiment with my DSLR camera trap to hopefully capture some images. After weeks of trying, I managed to capture this intimate photo of a vixen and her cub."
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30points
#10 "Taking Its Toll" By David Gibbon
Highly Commended in the Animal Behavior category.
"I captured this blue morph Arctic Fox during a brutal day. Gale force winds, sub-zero temperatures and heavy snow made hunting very tough for this individual, so the hungry fox lay down in the hope the storm would soon pass so it could continue its search for food."
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28points
#11 "Purple Skies" By Bence Máté
Highly Commended in the Night Sky category.
"The birds standing in the lake were made visible by huge flashes of lightning. The image is purple because of the short wavelength of lightning."
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28points
#12 "My New Toy" By Celia Kujala
Highly Commended in the Underwater category.
"Play is very important in the development of young Steller sea lions and they love playing with anything that they find in their environment. When I was diving at Norris Rocks off Hornby Island in Canada, I watched this young sea lion play with a starfish.
As I watched her, she swam over to me to show me her beautiful toy. I was able to capture the image just as she was presenting the starfish to me.
Sadly, Steller sea lions are listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. By observing their playful nature, I hope people will feel a connection with them and want to protect them and their environment."
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28points
#13 "Aurora" By Marcus Westberg
Highly Commended in the Night Sky category.
"A rare type of Aurora over an alpine lake in northern Sweden, far from any disturbing light pollution."
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27points
#14 "The Fox Of Arabia" By Mohammad Murad
Runner-up in the Urban Wildlife category.
"Arabian Red Foxes usually breed in the desert far away from humans. This is a really rare case and one that I monitored for almost three months.
I found two dens near the city of Kuwait, with each den having a family of 5 kittens with their parents. One den was close to the houses next to the shore of Kuwait, which amazed me when I first saw them!
The other den was still next to houses but in an old palm reserve. Finding breeding foxes near the city is something really unusual. Land degradation, habitat loss, human impact, and overhunting in the desert may be why these two families decide to risk it all and breed near the city."
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27points
#15 "Kangu" By Tomasz Szpila
Highly Commended in the Wild Portraits category.
"Portrait of the western lowland gorilla called Kangu, who lives in the semi-free conditions in Lesio Louna reserve in The Republic of Congo. Kangu is now twenty years old, most of which had been spent in the London zoo.
Thanks to Aspinall Foundation, he is now being adapted to living in the wild. Hopefully, he will be able to come back to the forest soon."
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27points
#16 "Rainbow Landscape" By Zdeněk Vošický
Highly Commended in the Landscape category.
"Picturesque and fertile landscape in the rolling fields of southern Moravia."
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26points
#17 "Manta Space Ship" By Grant Thomas
Winner in the Underwater category.
"Manta rays are filter feeders, sustaining their huge size by consuming large amounts of plankton and small crustaceans, like krill. The Maldives is one of the only places in the world where you can dive with these majestic animals at night time.
For this image, I was positioned flat on the sand, watching one Manta looping around and around whilst feeding on a cloud of planktonic creatures which had gathered. After some time, the manta drifted closer and closer to me until eventually, I was able to capture this shot."
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23points
#18 "Snow Monster" By Amit Ashel
Highly Commended in the Wild Portraits category.
"On February 2020, I was in the steppe zone in eastern Mongolia in search of the elusive Pallas’s Cat. After 6 full days of searching, we were lucky to find this cat lurking for prey in the snowy steppe. The cat was covered in fresh snow, making him look like an unfamiliar creature – a snow monster!
The Pallas’s cat is listed as ‘Near Threatened’ on The IUCN Red List and is thought to be at risk from habitat fragmentation, a declining prey base, and consumptive hunting. The current status of Pallas’s cat highlights its need for protection.
Its ecology remains poorly understood, impairing the development of conservation strategies. Most records of their occupancy and distribution are in mountainous areas, steppes, and rocky outcrops, suggesting that these are their preferred habitats. Approximately 12% of the species’ range in Mongolia occurs within protected areas. But the steppe zone in which most of their distribution is is out of the scope of protection."
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23points
#19 "Moonwalker" By Vladimir Cech Jr.
Highly Commended in the Camera Trap category.
"Wild Eurasian lynx walking in front of my homemade camera trap with a beautiful starry sky in the background and shining full moon. The long exposure brings out the night sky, whilst the use of flash renders the lynx sharp in the frame."
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23points
#20 "Moon Halo" By Bartlomiej Jurecki
Highly Commended in the Night Sky category.
"This image was taken late at night and shows a luminous ring surrounding the moon. This is very rare and spectacular: it is called a Moon Halo and is an optical phenomenon.
A halo is formed under the refraction of light in a cloud containing ice crystals. A halo can appear in the sky at any time of the year, although it is most likely to be seen in winter. It most often appears over ice-covered areas and in the mountains."
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23points