Wildlife Photographer of the Year named - see the 19 winning images

This powerful image of a elephant carrying a dead calf has taken the top prize in Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Federico Veronesi witnessed this moving moment while tracking elephants when he came across an unusual pattern of drag marks in the sand of a dry riverbed. The source of the marks became clear when he caught up with a family group. A female emerged with the calf, its leg wedged between her tusk and trunk. Kathy Moran, chair of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year jury, said the winning photograph "says it all". "This photograph works on so many levels," she said. "Emotionally it's a gut punch, heartbreakingly poignant. Intellectually it's proof that animals have cognition." This year’s competition which is run by the Natural History Museum received over 65,000 and below are all the wining images that were judged anonymously by a panel of 7 experts on their creativity, technical excellence and originality. The Aftermath - Winner, Behaviour: Mammals Federico Veronesi's image gives us a rare glimpse into complex animal behaviours. Behaviours centring on death have been observed in both Asian and African elephants, including vocalisations, guarding the dead, inspecting and handling bones, and carrying the deceased. Some researchers suggest these behaviours could indicate an elephant’s journey to understanding death, while others interpret these actions as possible displays of grief. Protective Pose - Winner, Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles Anton Sorokin (USA) finds a California newt laying its eggs as it clasps vegetation that already holds another newt’s egg clutch. Anton hadn’t seen this pose before, despite documenting newt behaviour each winter. The pond was too dirty to swim, so Anton waded along the edge, carefully dipping his camera and lighting beneath the surface to record this remarkable view of parental care. California newts interlock their back feet to protect the clutch, which are vulnerable to predation by other newts. They will stay like this until the gelatinous mass around the eggs has swollen too large to be eaten and has solidified onto the stem. The Meeting Place - Winner, Animals in their Environment James Lewin watches a young bull elephant spray a group of zebra as they congregate in the Kenyan Chyulu Hills. While there was no shortage of subjects and action around this waterhole, James had to deal with the harsh, unforgiving light. He chose to soften the light using a camera converted to infrared, creating this dream-like scene. Flight of the Bumblebee - Winner, 10 Years and Under Amelie Davis highlights a common carder bee suspended in mid-air as it flies in to land and feast on a flower in southern England. Amelie had been taking photographs of bees for several months. On this August afternoon the garden was ‘teeming with bees’. Without her camera, Amelie borrowed her dad’s smartphone and was able to record the delicate detail of a single wingbeat. Bees perceive plants and flowers in many ways. Distinguishing one colour for nectar and another for pollen helps them make rapid decisions when foraging. Their vision is tuned to blue, green and ultraviolet wavelengths, so they can see markings that are invisible to us. Labour of Love - Winner, 11-14 Years Oscar Whitfield notices the arduous exertion of this dung beetle pushing its precious cargo. Using a fast shutter speed and high light sensitivity, Oscar lay flat on the ground to photograph the beetle at eye level, with the sunshine and heat creating dry dust all around him. Hidden Depths - Winner, Rising Star Award Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas reveals the exquisite beauty of the tiniest of animals in the finest of detail. A previous winner of the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year award, Alexis got his first camera aged ten. His focus shifted to macro photography during the Covid-19 lockdowns, when he was unable to venture farther than the urban habitats close to home in Berlin, Germany. By experimenting with focus stacking techniques, which involve combining multiple images with different planes of focus to increase the depth of field, Alexis wants to bring Winner Rising Star Award attention to species that often go unnoticed. Scenes from the Swamp - Winner, Behaviour: Birds Isak Pretorius chances across two elusive shoebill storks among wetland vegetation. Exploring the swamp in a narrow canoe with a guide, Isak felt exceptionally lucky to see not one but two elusive shoebills. The birds pulled out vegetation, dropped it and then repeated the process several times. It’s likely this is a breeding pair gathering nesting material. Urban Jungle - Winner, Urban Wildlife Seth Forestson spots a common water monitor carrying its fish supper in a Bangkok park. The challenge wasn’t finding these lizards, but catching them in action, as they spend most of the day basking in the sun. When Seth spotted this one, he lowered himself down onto the mud to frame this city dragon against the Bangkok skyline. Warning Sign - Winner, Photojournalism Francisco Negroni records this scene of a dead puma amid the rugged, windswept beauty of Argentine Patagonia. Tied to the fence and presented as a hunting trophy, this display was one Francisco had ‘never witnessed or photographed before’. In 2025, Santa Cruz banned the hunting of pumas, but illegal persecution continues. Livestock predation is one of the major causes of human–puma conflict, and it’s suggested that enclosing sheep at night and using guard dogs can significantly reduce the loss of livestock without resorting to hunting. In southern Chile, some owners have even abandoned sheep farming in favour of puma tourism. Birdsong Painted - Winner, 15-17 Years Konrad Gräeter highlights a male blackbird singing in a vineyard early one April morning. Konrad had to crouch down low on the steep slope of the vineyard and point his camera through a gap in the foliage to frame the blackbird within its landscape. Blackbirds can be heard singing at different times of day, but their songs have the most complex compositions at dawn. During the spring breeding season, the males sing from elevated vantage points to proclaim their territory and to attract a mate. Females respond with a softer sound, known as a subsong, during courtship. Secret Worlds - Winner, Portfolio Award Kutub Uddin reveals a magical and often surreal world of slime moulds that can barely be seen with the naked eye. Kutub became interested in slime moulds in 2024, and as a macro photographer now devotes much of his time to revealing this tiny hidden world. He loves exploring his local woodlands in southeast England, where fallen logs and damp forest floors provide opportunities for discovering these fascinating organisms. Making Morays - Winner, Under Water Tony Wu provides a first-time glimpse into the mating ritual of Abbott’s moray eels. Tony has been working with biologists to address a knowledge gap in the social behaviour of this eel species. Guided only by a dim red-light source to minimise disturbance, and using a customised fisheye camera lens, he has studied this male since 2024 as it visits females that dwell in crevices on the reef. A Watchful Eye -Winner, Animal Portraits Aaron Sanders glimpses a common octopus behind a curtain of kelp in the waters off southwest England. Aaron had been diving off Porthkerris Beach when he noticed the footprints of octopus suckers through a thin blade of kelp, and a single eye slowly emerging. ‘We remained perfectly still, watching one another with a seemingly shared curiosity,’ says Aaron. In recent years in the waters off southwest England, there has been a dramatic increase in sightings of common octopuses, a species more frequently found in warmer Mediterranean waters. The influx or ‘bloom’ of these cephalopods has been linked to above-average springtime sea temperatures. Night-Time Catch - Winner, Oceans: The Bigger Picture Alex Lindbloom finds a whale shark investigating the catch of a ‘bagan’, or mobile net-fishing platform, in the inky waters off Papua. Alex started searching for sharks around dawn when the nets were still in the water. Initially lacking natural light for his drone’s camera, he found these sharks illuminated by the bagan’s bright lights. Shedding Light - Winner, Plants and Fungi Agorastos Papatsanis uses ultraviolet light to reveal the glowing yellow stems of beautiful bonnet mushrooms growing from a decaying log. On the lower slopes of Greece’s Mount Olympus, Agorastos experimented with ultraviolet (UV) illumination until it revealed the strongest fluorescent response from these mushrooms known as ‘beautiful bonnets’. Shifting Sand - Winner, Behaviour: Invertebrates Sitaram Raul encounters a scorpion burrowing into one of the shifting dunes of the Thar Desert. Exploring the dunes at night near the village of Sam, Sitaram saw many scorpions searching for prey. But as sunrise approached, they started burrowing to avoid the intense heat. Sitaram timed the exposure so that the excavated sand was suspended in mid-air. Escape Artistry - Winner, Natural Artistry Michał Michalski uses a slow shutter speed to create the illusion of trees still swathed in autumn foliage. Michał was in a field of unharvested sunflowers that had attracted mixed flocks of birds, especially goldfinches and bramblings. As they took to the sky, startled by a sparrowhawk, Michał blurred the movement against a backdrop of leafless birches. The Great Divide -Winner, Wetlands: The Bigger Picture Alex Visbal documents how a single engineered line can reshape an entire wetland. This photograph is part of Alex’s long-term project documenting the industrial footprint on bodies of water. The distinctive pink colour on the left is caused by bright pink microbes that thrive in extremely saline water, which happens when an area is cut off from a supply of fresh water. The ecology of the lake is in sharp decline due to industrial use, upstream diversions and climate change. Since this image was taken, the State of Utah has brought the area under conservation management.