Take a peek at this year’s Wil

Image: Lara Jackson/Twitter

Take a peek at this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition

Take a peek at some of the highly commended images from this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

Take a peek at this year’s Wil

Image: Lara Jackson/Twitter

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition has been running for 57 years by the Natural History Museum in London and showcases exceptional nature photography from around the globe.

According to Mashable, despite the obvious technical prowess of the photographers, it can be a challenging, unsettling, and often disturbing collection of images to look at, to be honest. Yet, they never fail to be hauntingly beautiful.

This year’s competition saw over 50 000 entries across 95 countries. The overall winner will be announced on 12 October and the annual exhibition of the photographs opens on 15 October at the Natural History Museum itself. Here are some of the photographs that are in the running to win the prestigous title:

Storm fox by Jonny Armstrong, United States

“The fox was busy searching in the shallows for salmon carcasses – sockeye salmon that had died after spawning. At the water’s edge, the photographer, Jonny Armstrong was lying on his chest, aiming for a low, wide-angle. The vixen was one of only two red foxes resident on the tiny island in Karluk Lake, on Alaska’s Kodiak Island, and she was surprisingly bold,” reads the competition statement.

The great swim by Buddhilini de Soyza, Sri Lanka/Australia

This photograph[her, Buddhilini De Soyza followed the cheetahs as they leapt into the raging Talek River in Kenya’s Maasai Mara. Dilini watched them being swept away by the torrents, faces grimacing. Against her expectations and much to her relief, all five made it.

Mushroom magic by Juergen Freund, Germany/Australia

It was on a summer night, at full moon, after monsoon rain, that Juergen found the ghost fungus, on a dead tree in the rainforest near his home in Queensland, Australia. He needed a torch to keep to the track, but every few metres he would switch it off to scan the dark for the ghostly glow. His reward was this cluster of hand-sized fruiting bodies.

Lynx on the threshold by Sergio Marijuán, Spain

A young Iberian lynx pauses in the doorway of the abandoned hayloft where it was raised, on a farm in eastern Sierra Morena, Spain. He will soon be leaving his mother’s territory. Once widespread on the Iberian Peninsula of Spain and Portugal, by 2002 there were fewer than 100 lynx in Spain and none in Portugal.

Thanks to ongoing conservation efforts – reintroduction, rewilding, prey boosting and the creation of natural corridors and tunnels – Iberian lynx have escaped extinction and, though still endangered, are fully protected. 

Raw moment by Lara Jackson, UK

“Bright red blood dripped from her muzzle – oxygenated blood, indicating that her wildebeest meal was still alive. Perhaps being inexperienced, this young lioness had not made a clean kill and had begun eating the still struggling animal. Now, with a paw holding it down, she gave Lara an intense stare. More than two million wildebeest move through the north of Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park on their annual migration in search of greener grass, providing the Serengeti lions with a seasonal glut of food. Lara had spotted the lioness just as she pounced,” reads the statement.

You can see more photos over here.