A forest rodeo, a hidden stargazer and a mason bee at work are just a few of the awe-inspiring images featured in the 59th wildlife photographer of the year competition
showcasing 100 extraordinary photographs from around the world on 13 October 2023.
Main image: Coral connections, by Alex Mustard, UK. Photograph: Alex Mustard/Wildlife Photographer of the YearZeyu captures a coot as it struggles to stay upright on ice with a wriggling loach in its mouth. Zeyu waited in the cold, watching coots as they moved across a frozen pond in north-east China. This coot had been scrambling in the water for food and eventually caught a loach.
Zankl captured a two-coloured mason bee building the roof of its nest. Zankl knew the bee was memorising landmarks around the nest so it could find it again. So as not to disorientate it, he edged his equipment closer each time it left. After two hours, the bee was using his equipment as a landmark. Two-coloured mason bees use snail shells for egg laying. They pack the shell with pollen and nectar for their larvae, then seal it with grass and sticky saliva.
D’Amicis has captured a mosaic-like image of a Mediterranean monk seal. Working under permit, D’Amicis lay hidden on a ledge for several hours the seal glided through the shallows and disappeared into a cave below. The reflections on the water helped hide the seal and allude to the risk of the species totally disappearing. This species is now one of the most endangered mammals on Earth due to historic hunting and human encroachment on its habitat.
Zhou captures the drama of a snow leopard hunting a Pallas’s cat. When the snow leopard sprang into action, Zhou assumed it was after a marmot, as ‘the Pallas’s cat blended in so well with the rocks’. But in less than a minute, it was in the snow leopard’s jaws. Both species are well camouflaged and are hard to see at any time, let alone together. While large birds of prey and wolves are known to hunt Pallas’s cats, it is a rare sight to see them hunted by snow leopards.
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