82 Best Wildlife Photos Of 2017 Were Just Announced And The Winning Pic Is Making Everyone Angry And Sad

Enchanted by its rugged beauty, Sergey finds any excuse to return to Wrangel Island. With no supplies available, he has to bring everything by helicopter – this two month trip took a year to plan. Collaborating with researchers, Sergey worked from shelters at the edge of the snow goose colony to reduce his impact on the inhabitants of this frozen world.

In late May, a quarter of a million snow geese arrive on Wrangel Island – the world’s largest breeding colony. Opportunistic Arctic foxes take advantage of the feast, stealing eggs and caching them for leaner times. But the geese and foxes are well matched – it would have taken luck and cunning to win this prize.

Charlie was working in the remote Machiguenga community of Yomibato when he came across Yoina and her pet tamarin. Every day, she would go for a swim taking her tamarin with her. ‘I have no idea why,’ says Charlie. ‘The tamarin hated it and spent the whole time clambering onto her head to escape the water.’

Yoina’s tribe have inhabited the protected rainforest of Yomibato for generations and have earned the right to hunt animals (without guns) for food. The tribe consider themselves part of nature and take just enough to ensure their and the forest’s survival. When monkeys carrying young are killed, the babies are often kept as pets and later released.

As spring awakens in the upland birch forest of Vauldalen, tensions between mountain hares grow. One night, two hares came to blows in front of Erlend’s hide, squabbling over food he had left out to attract them. Snowflakes flying, Erlend froze the action, later converting the image to black and white to accentuate the drama of the moment.

As their Latin name, Lepus timidus, suggests, mountain hares are timid creatures, cautious after a lifetime of being hunted by predators and for human sport. In spring they become more active and, under the cover of darkness, scrap over food and females.

Ashleigh went to Alaska intent on photographing brown bears as families. This was the moment she had been waiting for, a mother leading two cubs across the beach. One of them wanted to stay and play. ‘I fell in love with brown bears on this trip,’ says Ashleigh. ‘They are so similar to humans.’

Brown bears are usually solitary, but there is a strong bond between mother and cubs. The young bears stay with their mother for two to three years, learning what to eat, and how to look after themselves. Large numbers of bears follow the plentiful food supplies available here in summer, feasting like this family, on clams, salmon and berries.

Ashleigh was looking for red foxes in the deep snow of winter, having photographed them in spring and summer from a hide near her home. Spotting this female hunting from the back seat of a car, she grabbed her camera, rested it on the window frame and shot a series of the fox ‘mousing’, diving nose first into a drift.

Hunting foxes step quietly across the surface of the snow then stop, tilt their head and listen intently. Suddenly they will pounce, leaping high enough to punch through the deep snow. Sometimes they remain in this upside-down position for several seconds. More often than not these hunts are successful. The vole this fox was after was lucky this time.

The moon shone bright over the Tiputini River, making it easy for Jaime to find his way as he searched for nocturnal wildlife. A huge smooth-sided toad was clambering and hopping along the river bank. Eventually the toad paused to rest, and Jaime noticed its belly, speckled with white spots ‘like stars in the sky’.

Yasuní National Park is one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, with 150 different species of amphibians alone. Smooth-sided toads can look after themselves, actively squirting a toxin from glands around their shoulders. Their paradise, however, is increasingly under threat – new oil reserves have recently been found below the surface.

Taken as part of an undercover investigation into the illegal trade in rhino horn, Brent’s winning image tells the evocative story of one of the trade’s latest victims – a black rhino bull from South Africa’s Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park. The poachers responsible are thought to have come from a local community, working to order. After entering the reserve illegally, they ambushed the rhino at a waterhole, shooting it dead before fleeing from its mutilated body.

Brent’s poignant image is symbolic of the devastating impact of the demand for rhino horn. Black rhinos were once the most numerous of the rhino species. However, it was estimated in 2015 that only 5,000 remained in the wild – a number that conservationists believe to have fallen since due to increased poaching. These critically endangered animals will become extinct unless effective and compelling action is taken.

‘When an image shocks and assaults us, there needs to be good reason. With this one, there is. The stark simplicity forces us to witness the brutal, tragic, stupid waste of a poacher’s work. If we feel disgust it is at our own species, while we pity the black bull rhino for its ghastly death, killed by two shots just so that its horn could be hacked off to supply illegal trade in a questionable “medicine”. There is a horrible intimacy to the photograph: it draws us in and invites us to explore our response and responsibility.’
Lewis Blackwell, Chair of the jury

This pangolin’s minder was cautious about Adrian’s presence. His charge was shy and it had taken him many moments of patience and round-the-clock care to gain its trust. Respecting this bond and the pangolin’s rehabilitation, Adrian worked carefully to create this intimate and compelling portrait.

Recovering after its confiscation from poachers, this pangolin is one of the lucky ones. In spite of a global ban on their trade, pangolins continue to be the most trafficked mammal in the world, sold for their meat and scales. As with any conservation story, the situation is highly complex, with embedded cultural beliefs fuelling the black market.

Justin watched, delighted as the seahorse bounced from one piece of natural debris to the next. However, as rubbish and sewage began to sluice the shore, the creature seized upon this cotton bud as a stable anchor. Justin’s admiration for the beautiful seahorse soon turned to ‘vitriolic anger’ at the ‘incoming tide of pollution and litter’.

Because of their unusual equine shape, seahorses are poor swimmers. They propel themselves forward using their wing-like dorsal fins, with their smaller pectoral fins used for steering. It’s exhausting work, so they often catch a ride or take a break by clinging to sea grasses and corals with their prehensile tails.

Just a few hours old, these wild Jamaican iguana hatchlings are some of the rarest lizards in the world. Robin’s endearing photograph was part of a campaign to save these creatures, whose future had been jeopardised by government plans to build in their forest habitat.

Thought to be extinct, these miraculous iguanas were rediscovered in 1990. Since then, their dramatic comeback has been spurred on by a programme that aims to collect young and vulnerable iguanas from wild nests, saving them from predators such as the Indian mongoose. After a few months in captivity the babies will be released back into the wild.

The five-metre baitball was constantly changing shape and moving. The mackerel’s defence strategy seemed to be working, as for the hour Jordi followed them, freediving, no predators attacked. As the ball sank deeper, he captured a top-down perspective, highlighting the graceful choreography that belied the simmering tension.

By swimming in a tight, coordinated school, the slender mackerel confuse their predators, striped European barracudas and broader bluefish. Barracudas are skilful hunters of fish, as are the aggressive bluefish, which often attack shoals as well as hunting other animals such as squid.

The red squirrel closed its eyes for just a moment – ‘as if in prayer’, thought Mats – then resumed its search for food. Mats had walked the forest every day, often stopping to watch the squirrels in this spruce tree. For him, the creature’s demeanour on this cold February morning encapsulated the spirit of winter.

Winter is a tough time for many animals. Some hibernate to escape its rigours, but not the red squirrel. It endures the cold mornings of winter foraging for seeds, nuts and insects. They favour woodland with coniferous trees – ensuring a year-round supply of seeds – and store food to help see them through lean times.

Marcio had been visiting the National Park for three years waiting for the right conditions to capture the glowing termite mounds. After days frustrated by rain, he was in for a surprise. A giant anteater ambled out of the darkness and stayed just long enough for Marcio to take a single picture, using a long exposure and flash to highlight his unexpected companion.

Termite mounds twinkle with the green lures of click beetle larvae, waiting for adult termites to fly into their traps. Giant anteaters, up to two metres long, have a more direct approach, using powerful claws and long tongues to reach inside the mound. But the termites aren’t defenceless – soldiers spray toxins at the intruder, which quickly make it move on.

Hunting for moths with a torch, ‘I was soon covered in them’, says Imre. He used an in-camera double exposure, lighting the moth with multiple bursts from a stroboscopic flash and firing the shutter again with the focus on the stars. It took many attempts to create this image, revealing the moth’s night-time pursuits.

From late October to early January, clouds of male winter moths search for the scent of the wingless females. Each female can lay 350 eggs that hatch in spring to take advantage of the first flush of green leaves. This early rush of life is a feast for blue tits, which feed their young on the succulent green caterpillars.

The mellow light of dusk emphasised every wrinkle and hair as a herd of elephants approached David. The female leading the herd – possibly the matriarch – looked straight at him, her amber eye shining bright through the heavy folds of skin. Her gaze was full of respect and intelligence, the essence of sentience, he says.

The distinctive large ears of African bush elephants have extensive blood vessels and wrinkles to maximise heat loss. Losing part of the lower earlobe, like this female, is a common injury. Both males and females use their tusks for fighting, digging and feeding. Poaching for tusks for the ivory trade is still one of the biggest threats facing African elephants.

Tyohar watched every day for a week as a pair of resplendent quetzals delivered fruit and food to their two chicks. The birds’ erratic movements made them difficult to photograph, however Tyohar remained patient. This unique composition of a male quetzal in flight is a reminder, not only of Tyohar’s tenacity, but also of the bond he brokered with the winged family.

Unlike this pair, resplendent quetzals usually breed in thick rainforest, using their beaks to make nests in rotten trees. The couple then take turns to incubate their eggs inside the hollow. Often the only clue of their whereabouts is the male’s colourful tail peeking out from the tree hollow.

Jaime had witnessed the spectacular gathering of monarch butterflies before, but this time he had a permit to remain until dusk. ‘I had to run uphill chasing the last light, all the trees around me trembling with butterflies,’ says Jaime. The finishing touch came as one butterfly opened its orange wings, the rest of the colony filling the frame.

Every autumn, millions of monarch butterflies migrate nearly 5,000 kilometres from their breeding grounds to overwinter in Mexico. The sacred fir forests drip with insects gathering together for protection. But this remarkable event is threatened by the use of herbicides across North America, illegal logging and an increased frequency of winter storms.

The tiny eyes of the parasitic isopods peered out at Qing through the fish’s mouths. It took six dives, immense patience and a pinch of luck, but finally all three fish revealed their guests. In that moment Qing captured the three curious individuals, all lined up, eyes front and mouths open.

These tenacious isopods probably entered the anemonefish via their gills, attaching themselves to their host’s tongue. Over time, these crustaceans (distantly related to woodlice) will stretch their legs out and suck the fish’s blood until the tongue withers and dies. Eventually, they will replace the entire tongue.

Dozens of sperm whales mingled noisily off the coast, stacked as far as Tony could see. Immediately, he realised that this was something special – like a gathering of clans, these whales were part of a multi-day congregation. For Tony, the sight filled him with hope that ‘the recovery of sperm whale populations may be going well’.

The marble-like appearance of these whales is a sign of skin-sloughing. Large aggregations like this one will rub and roll against each other to exfoliate their neighbour’s dead skin, helping them to maintain hydrodynamic performance. The tactile contact also helps to reinforce social bonds.

After several days of constant rain the bald eagle was soaked to the skin. ‘As the eagle edged nearer, picking up scraps, I lowered my head, looking through the camera to avoid direct eye contact,’ says Klaus. His low perspective and simple composition concentrates the portrait on the eagle’s expression, enhanced by the overcast light.

Opportunists with a penchant for fish, bald eagles gather at Dutch Harbor to take advantage of the fishing industry’s leftovers. After dramatic declines in the twentieth century, the species has started to recover, but the birds are still poisoned by eating carrion containing toxic lead ammunition. A ban was recently overturned in the USA.