Tadpoles top Wildlife Photography Contest 2024

Canadian marine conservation photojournalist Shane Gross had to carefully navigate through a delicate layer of silt and algae at the bottom of Cedar Lake on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, to photograph swimming tadpoles. And he wasn't even sure if he'd gotten any good shots until he reached home.

But his snorkeling through lily pads has paid off: Gross has been named Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024 for his image titled "The Swarm of Life."

"This image swirls with light, energy and a feeling of synchronized movement between the lilies and the tadpole tails," said Kathy Moran, jury chair and editor. "The real payoff is that this wonderful scene highlights environments and species that are often overlooked."

Developed and produced annually by the Natural History Museum in London, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and exhibition is a breathtaking synergy of photography, science and art. Having started in 1965 as a magazine competition with just 361 entries, it has now evolved into one of the world's most prestigious photography awards, attracting over 45,000 submissions each year with millions worldwide attending its touring exhibition.

This year's competition saw a record-breaking 59,228 entries from 117 countries and territories. Here are some other winners: 

Germany's Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas was the winner of the 15-17 Years category for "Life Under Dead Wood." Using a technique called focus stacking, where he combined 36 images, each with a different area in focus, his winning photograph features fruiting slime mold alongside a tiny, energetic springtail.

He had to work quickly, as springtails — also known as snow fleas — can leap several times their body length in the blink of an eye. "I think a lot of people don't know that these things even exist," Tinker-Tsavalas told the BBC. "If people learn more through my images, I feel like that's one of the biggest goals for me, to just show this tiny world that a lot of people don't really get to see, in a different light."

Russia's Igor Metelskiy waited more than six months to capture this relaxed image of the usually elusive lynx. Named winner of the Animals in their Environment category, "Frontier of the Lynx" shows the cat stretching in the early evening sunshine, its body mirroring the undulating wilderness surrounding it.

A 2013 survey estimated the entire Russian lynx population to number around 22,500, with 5,890 in the Russian Far East, including those in Primorsky Krai, where this picture was shot. 

A gnarled old birch tree adorned with pale "old man's beard" lichens was the subject of the winning picture in the Plants and Fungi category.

Captured by Italian Fortunato Gatto, who often visits the Glen Affric ancient pinewoods in the Scottish highlands, the lichens indicate that the area experiences minimal air pollution. Pollen preserved in the layered sediments shows that the forest has stood here for at least 8,300 years.

Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod was taking a break after a morning of photographing birds and leopards when he realized he wasn't alone. A troop of toque macaques was moving through the trees above, when Vinod spotted this young monkey sleeping between feeds in an adult's arms.

Thus, he captured "A Tranquil Moment" — winner in the Behavior: Mammals category — using a telephoto lens. Toque macaques easily adapt to human foods, and their habitat loss to plantations has seen farmers increasingly shooting, snaring and poisoning them in an attempt to protect their crops.

"Wetland Wrestle" by Karine Aigner won in the Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles category. She was leading a tour group in Brazil. They had stopped to photograph some marsh deer, when she spotted a yellow anaconda coiled around the snout of a yacare caiman.

It's difficult, however, to tell who is the aggressor here: Caimans feed on a wide variety of things that can include snakes, while anacondas include reptiles in their diet as they grow larger. 

"Tiger in Town" by Robin Darius Conz won under the Urban Wildlife category. Conz was following this tiger as part of a documentary team filming the wildlife of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu, India. He'd used a drone to watch the tiger explore its territory before it settled on this spot.

The protected areas in the Western Ghats, where tigers are carefully monitored, are some of the most biodiverse landscapes in India and have a stable population of tigers. However, tiger numbers have declined outside these areas, where development has created conflict between humans and wildlife. 

Besides highlighting the importance of conservation, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition also boosts the profile of wildlife photography as an artistic medium and supports the careers of young photography professionals. Competition entries are judged anonymously, with professional work being considered alongside that of amateurs and young people, thus offering a level playing field to both amateurs and professionals.

The 2025 competition opens for entries on October 14 and closes on December 5, 2024.

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier