Hyena highway by Sam Rowley, UK. Spotted hyenas are intelligent and opportunistic animals. On the outskirts of cities such as Harar in Ethiopia, they take advantage of what humans leave behind like bones and rotting meat. In so doing, the hyenas keep disease at bay and the locals tolerate them, even leaving out butcher’s scraps.To capture these hyenas from the family group known as the Highway Clan, Sam set up a remote camera by a roadkill carcass. He photographed the lowest-ranking member of the clan after the dominant members had sauntered off. (Photo by Sam Rowley/Wildlife Photographer of the Year) Continue reading »

The winners of the Natural History Museum’s prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Karine Aigner’s remarkable image of a buzzing ball of cactus bees spinning over the hot sand on a Texas ranch won the Grand Title award. ‘Wings-whirring, incoming males home in on the ball of buzzing bees that is rolling straight into the picture. The sense of movement and intensity is shown at bee-level magnification and transforms what are little cactus bees into big competitors for a single female,’ said chair of the jury, Rosamund Kidman Cox.

New life for the tohorā by Richard Robinson, New Zealand | Winner, oceans: the bigger picture

A hopeful moment for a population of whales that has survived against all odds. Hindered by poor visibility, Robinson used a polecam to photograph the whales gradually moving towards his boat. Pushing his camera to its limits, he was relieved to find the image pin-sharp and the moment of copulation crystallised in time. Known by the Māori as tohorā, the New Zealand population was hunted to near extinction in the 1800s, so every new calf offers new hope. Deas Head, Auckland Islands, New Zealand Photograph: Richard Robinson/Wildlife Photographer of the Year Continue reading »