Natural History Museum: The public's favourite images in photo contest
- Published
This wintry shot of Santa Croce Lake in northern Italy by Italian photographer Cristiano Vendramin came top in an online vote by more than 31,800 nature and photography enthusiasts from a shortlist of 25 images. Mr Vendramin took his winning picture while visiting the lake. He said: "I hope that my photography will encourage people to understand that the beauty of nature can be found everywhere around us, and we can be pleasantly surprised by the many landscapes so close to home."
The shortlist for the People's Choice Award was chosen by the Natural History Museum from the 50,000 images from 95 countries submitted. This shot is called Hope in a Burned Plantation by Jo-Anne McArthur, which has been highly commended. It shows an eastern grey kangaroo with her joey peeking out pictured near Mallacoota in Victoria - a sign of life continuing despite the burnt trees after an Australian wildfire.
This soggy photo by Ashleigh McCord of two lions is called Shelter From The Rain. During a visit to the Maasai Mara, Kenya, Ashleigh captured this moment between a pair of lions. Ashleigh explained that as the rain turned into a heavy downpour, the second male returned and sat, positioning his body as if to shelter the other.
Black bear cubs will often climb trees, where they wait safely for their mother to return with food. Here, in the Anan rainforest in Alaska, this little cub decided to take an afternoon nap on a moss-covered branch under the watchful eye of a bald eagle. Photographer Jeroen Hoekendijk was able to position himself a bit higher on the hill and take this image as the bear slept.
In the Lishan Nature Reserve in Shanxi Province, China, Qiang Guo watched as two male golden pheasants continuously swapped places on this trunk – like they were doing a special dance! The birds are native to China, where they live in dense forests in mountainous regions. Although brightly coloured, they are shy and difficult to spot, spending most of their time looking for food on the forest floor, only flying to evade predators or to roost in very high trees during the night.