Wildlife Photographer of the Year: Amazing competition photos
- Published
"The Victor" - This was taken by Adam in the 11 to 14 years old category. It shows a Titiwangsa horned tree lizard on the road near Adam's home in the mountains of Pahang, Malaysia. It had just won a battle with a Malaysian jewel centipede. Adam crawled towards it for an eye-level portrait. The species is highly sought after by poachers and Adam and his Dad do regular anti-poaching walks. Amazing work, Adam!
"Flight" - Sue scanned the Indian Ocean for days for this photo. It was taken in the Seychelles and shows a young red-footed booby bird trying to catch a flying fish. Yep - a booby bird!! Sue had to be super quick to get this shot. The booby missed and the fish escaped.
"Delta Design" - Check out this unusual photo of these flamingos. It was taken as Paul was flying over the Southern Ewaso Ng’iro River delta, on the border of Kenya and Tanzania, He had to take his shot through the open door of a small plane, battling against the wind. Wow - nerve-wracking stuff!
"Simple Beauty" - It's quite difficult to tell what this photo is! It was taken in a shallow tidal pool on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides and shows different types of seaweed. Theo used a special filter to avoid reflections and show details beneath the surface of the water. Clever!
"Cook cat" - A lioness is pictured in Zambia's South Luangwa National Park. Isak positioned his car on the opposite side of the waterhole, steadying his long lens on a bean bag. The lioness appeared for a drink. Isak caught her gaze and her tongue lapping the water, framed by the wall of lush green. She's beautiful.
"The Meerkat Mob" - When a cobra reared its head and moved towards two meerkat pups near their warren on Namibia's Brandberg Mountain, the rest of the pack reacted almost instantly. Tertius had a ringside seat in the safety of his car. He focused on the snake's flicking tongue, but also caught the expressions of fear and aggression among the meerkats. Finally, the cobra gave up and the meerkats scurried away.
"Mr Whiskers" - Valter came across these walruses feeding between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Putting on his wetsuit, he slipped into the icy water with his camera on a long pole. He's highly trained and keeping at pole's length, he was able to take this portrait of the whiskered faces of a youngster and its watchful mother.
"Tigerland" - Emmanuel and a team of rangers climbed high in the Himalayas, with enough kit to set up 16 cameras in the hope of glimpsing a Bengal tiger. There were just 103 in Bhutan at the last count. After 23 days, he hit the jackpot as this magnificent male tiger inspected his camera before disappearing into the forest.
"Looking for Love" - This shot was taken in Japan's remote Sado Island and captures the Asian sheepshead wrasse. Individuals of this species start out as females, and when they reach a certain age they can transform into males. They can grow to around a metre long and feed on shellfish and crustaceans in the Western Pacific, though little more is known about it. Mysterious!
- Published24 July 2018
- Published15 December 2017
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- Published27 March 2017
