A series of stunning wildlife photographs from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition are being highlighted by the Natural History Museum, writes reshareworthy
From cheetahs battling to stay above water in a flash flood to an image of a biting mosquito that was years in the making, the photos will delight you.
The images have all been selected as Highly Commended in their categories and picked from the over 50,000 entries received from professional and amateur photographers across 95 countries.
The great swim by Buddhilini de Soyza, Sri Lanka/Australia Highly commended, Behaviour: Mammals
Astounding Wildlife Photos Highlight Dangers And Delights Of Nature Across The Globe
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A series of stunning wildlife photographs from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition are being highlighted by the Natural History Museum. From cheetahs battling to stay above water in a flash flood to an image of a biting mosquito that was years in the making, the photos will delight you.
The images have all been selected as Highly Commended in their categories and picked from the over 50,000 entries received from professional and amateur photographers across 95 countries.
The great swim by Buddhilini de Soyza, Sri Lanka/Australia Highly commended, Behaviour: Mammals
Buddhilini de Soyza / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
When the Tano Bora (Maasai for ‘magnificent five’) coalition of male cheetahs leapt into the raging Talek River in Kenya’s Maasai Mara, photographer Buddhilini de Dilini feared they would not make it. The unseasonable heavy rain caused the worst flooding local Maasi elders had ever known. And although cheetahs are strong swimmers, the chances of them reaching the other side of the river to prospective prey was slim. de Soyza would pursue the cheetahs for hours to capture her image.
She wrote of her photo: “Monstrous rains in Masai Mara Kenya during January of 2020 caused one of the major rivers to flood and become larger and more violent than ever before. The world’s only recorded coalition of 5 male cheetahs, were looking to cross this river in terrifyingly powerful currents. It seemed a task doomed to failure, with many famous cheetahs dying trying to cross much fewer daunting waters.”
“A couple of times the lead cheetah waded into the river, only to turn back,” she wrote. The cheetahs refused to enter calmer stretches where crocodiles could be lurking. “Suddenly, the leader jumped in,” said de Soyza. He was quickly followed by the others.
“After hours of careful searching along the banks, they suddenly jumped into the water and began trying to swim across this maelstrom of water as we watched terrified, they would be washed away or eaten by crocodiles. Their aim was to cross over to the other side, which was part of their territory and full of game.”
“The lead cheetah looked straight at us during the crossing while gritting teeth with swimming effort, as if accusing us of not helping them and watching them about to die. We screamed with delight as we saw them finally cross over about a 100m downstream from where they jumped.”
Upon reaching the shore safely the cheetahs headed straight off to hunt.
A caring hand by Douglas Gimesy, Australia Highly commended, Photojournalism
“After a feed of special formula milk, an orphaned grey-headed flying-fox pup lies on a ‘mumma roll’, sucking on a dummy and cradled in the hand of wildlife-carer Bev. She was three weeks old when she was found on the ground in Melbourne, Australia, and taken to a shelter,” writes photographer Douglas Gimsey.
The flying fox was taken to Black Rock Animal Shelter. Grey-headed Flying-foxes are threatened by man-made objects (such as electrical wiring and barbed-wire fencing) heat-stress events and destruction of their forest habitat, where they play a key role in seed dispersal and pollination. They are currently listed as vulnerable to extinction.
The pup will be weaned onto fruit, then flowering eucalyptus when 8-weeks-old. After a few months, she will join a crèche and build up flight fitness, before being moved next to Melbourne’s Yarra Bend bat colony, for eventual release into it.
Apollo landing by Emelin Dupieux, France Highly commended, 11-14 Years
Photographer Emelin Dupieux may be young but he has long dreamed of photographing the Apollo, a large mountain butterfly with a wingspan up to 90 millimetres (31/2 inches) and now one of Europe’s threatened butterflies, at risk from the warming climate and extreme weather events.
While on summer holiday in the Haut-Jura Regional Nature Park, on the French‑Swiss border, Emelin found himself surrounded by alpine meadows full of butterflies, including Apollos. As dusk started to fall, Emelin found a roost and with the daisies moving in the breeze and light fading, he finally achieved his photo.
As dusk starts to fall, an Apollo butterfly settles on an oxeye daisy. In summer, on holiday in the Haut-Jura Regional Nature Park, on the French‑Swiss border, Emelin found himself surrounded by alpine meadows full of butterflies, including Apollos.
Lockdown chicks by Gagana Mendis Wickramasinghe, Sri Lanka Highly commended, 10 years and under
Ten‑year-old Gagana Mendis Wickramasinghe watched from his parents’ bedroom balcony as three rose-ringed parakeet chicks popped their heads out of the nest hole as their father returned with food. The birds’ nest was at eye level with the balcony, in a dead areca-nut palm in the backyard. Gagana’s parents had deliberately left the tree standing to attract wildlife.
During the long days of the island-wide lockdown, Gagana and his older brother had hours of entertainment watching the parakeet family and experimenting with their cameras.When Gagana took this picture, both parents were feeding the growing chicks. Also known as ring‑necked parakeets, these parrots are native to Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan as well as a band of sub‑Saharan Africa, but feral populations are now found in many countries including the UK.
Net loss by Audun Rikardsen, Norway Highly commended, Oceans – The Bigger Picture
Overfishing is one of the biggest threats to ocean ecosystems, and according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, more than 60 per cent of fisheries today are either ‘fully fished’ or collapsed, and almost 30 per cent are at their limit (‘overfished’).
Photographer Audun Rikardsen was on board a Norwegian coastguard vessel, on a project to satellite‑tag orca. He caught sight of a fishing boat that had caught too many fish and when encircling wall of the purse-seine net was closed and winched up, it broke and released tons of crushed and suffocated herring.
The spectacle of carnage and waste was effectively a crime scene. The Norwegian coastguard is responsible for surveillance of the fishing fleet and used Audun’s photographs of visual evidence in a court case that resulted in a conviction and fine for the owner of the boat.
Norwegian spring-spawning herring had been fished almost to extinction in the 1960s. The Atlantic herring came so close to extinction that it took 20 years and a near‑ban on fishing for the populations to recover. It is still vulnerable to overfishing as Audun’s photograph demonstrates.
This instance is regarded as a classic example of how a combination of bad management, little knowledge and greed can have a devastating and sometimes permanent effect, not only on the species itself but on the whole ecosystem.
Toxic design by Gheorghe Popa, Romania Highly commended, Natural Artistry
Gheorghe Popa was taken by surprise when his drone flew over a small river in the Geamana Valley, within Romania’s Apuseni Mountains. He had been visiting the region for several years, but he had never come across such a striking combination of colors and shapes. Sadly, however, the designs were not a natural phenomenon but the result of gold and copper mining and the resulting pollution.
In the late 1970s, more than 400 families living in Geamana were forced to leave to make way for waste flowing from the nearby Rosia Poieni mine. The picturesque valley became a ‘tailings pond’ filled with millions of tons of toxic waste, an acidic cocktail, containing pyrite (fool’s gold), iron and other heavy metals, laced with cyanide.
These toxic materials have infiltrated the groundwater and threatened waterways more widely. Popa’s composition not only draws attention to the ecological disaster but captures the elemental colors of heavy metals in the river and the radiating banks of this toxic landscape.
Beautiful bloodsucker by Gil Wizen by Israel/Canada Highly commended, Behaviour: Invertebrates
The best way to photograph a female ornamented mosquito, says Gil Wizen, is to let it bite you. The wildlife photographer and entomologist writes:
“When thinking about mosquitoes, the word ‘pretty’ is usually not among the first associations to pop up in our mind. And yet, there are some spectacular species of mosquitoes out there,” says Gil. “Members of the genus Sabethes are a perfect example. There is no other mosquito in the world that has such an elegant appearance: its body is covered with blue and green iridescent scales, and its legs are long and bear wide flattened brushes of hairs, like paddles.”
“Sabethes mosquitoes are found only in northern Latin America, and the females are important vectors of several tropical diseases, such as yellow fever and dengue fever. Like many tropical mosquito species, Sabethes reproduce in small tree holes or bromeliads, where accumulating rainwater serves as medium for their aquatic larvae.”
“I have encountered these mosquitoes several times in my trips to the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador, and found them to be extremely skittish and difficult to photograph well. The best way to photograph one is to endure a bite, thus risking oneself with a chance of getting infected with a tropical disease. After carefully studying and observing the animal’s behavior for several years I was able to get a head-on, intimate photo of a female mosquito preparing to bite one of my finger knuckles.”
And yes, admits Gil, the bite was painful.
Up for grabs by Jack Zhi, USA Highly commended, Behaviour: Birds In southern California, USA
The fox was busy searching in the shallows for salmon carcasses – sockeye salmon that had died after spawning. At the water’s edge, photographer Jonny Armstrong was lying on his chest, aiming for a low, wide angle.
The vixen was one of only two red foxes resident on the tiny island in Karluk Lake, on Alaska’s Kodiak Island, and she was surprisingly bold. Jonny had followed her over several days, watching her forage for berries, pounce after birds and playfully nip at the heels of a young brown bear.
Taking advantage of the window of deepening atmospheric light created by a storm rolling in, he was after a dramatic portrait. Using a manual flash, Jonny had a fellow researcher raise up the diffused flash for him. It was just enough to pique the fox’s curiosity, giving Jonny his atmospheric portrait – studio-style – moments before the deluge of rain.
Mushroom magic by Juergen Freund, Germany/Australia Highly commended, Plants and Fungi
Bright red blood dripped from her muzzle – this young lioness’ wildebeest meal was still alive. Perhaps being inexperienced, the big cat had not made a clean kill and had begun eating the still struggling animal. Now, with a paw holding it down, she gave photographer Lara Jackson an intense stare. The lioness had been just resting in the long grass of Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park when the wildebeest wandered by.
“She was already quite full,” says Lara, “probably after feeding the night before, but she grabbed the opportunity for an easy meal.” She didn’t eat much before she left the kill to join a male lion she had been mating with.
Deep feelers by Laurent Ballesta, France Highly commended, Underwater
Source: reshareworthy.com
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