A stoat “dancing” over the snow, a David Bowie spider and a jaguar going for the kill are among the first images released from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024 competition.
More than a dozen highly-commended images have been unveiled on Thursday (August 29) by the Natural History Museum for this year’s collection.
The 2024 competition attracted a record-breaking 59,228 entries from photographers of all ages and experience levels from 117 countries and territories.
Among the newly-released images, which received awards in their categories, are Jose Manuel Grandio’s joyous image of a stoat jumping high into the air over fresh snow and young photographer Sasha Jumanca’s shot of two curious tawny owlets.
Randy Robbin’s photo of the frosted body of a deer on the forest floor was also unveiled as the first-ever awarded smartphone image.
A jaguar delivering a fatal bite to a caiman in the Pantanal in Brazil was captured by British photographer Ian Ford.
Meanwhile, Theo Bosboom’s image showed how mussels bind together to avoid being washed away from the shoreline in Sintra, Portugal.
Also among the 14 images that have been released are shots of lions mating with a backdrop of storm clouds in Tanzania, a Pallas’s cat staring down the lens as the moon sets in China, a jackdaw bringing stones to its nest in London, and a requiem shark in a final act of resistance in the bycatch of a ship in the South Atlantic.
See all the competition images released so far on the Natural History Museum website here.
When is the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024 winner announced?
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners will be announced at a ceremony hosted by TV presenters and conservationists Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin on October 8.
Entries were judged anonymously by an international panel of industry experts on their creativity, originality and technical excellence.
A new award in both the young and adult competitions, called the Impact Award, has also been introduced this year to recognise a conservation success, a story of hope or positive change.
Additionally, an exhibition of the top 100 images submitted to the competition opens at the Natural History Museum in London on October 11, before going on a UK and international tour.
Kathy Moran, chair of the judging panel, said: “In this selection, you see species diversity, a range of behaviour and conservation issues.
“These images represent the evolution of the competition through the years, from pure natural history to photography that fully embraces representation of the natural world – the beauty and the challenges.”
To mark the 60th anniversary of the competition in 2024, the museum’s flagship exhibition will feature a timeline of key moments in its history.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London, supported by Associate Donor The William Brake Foundation.
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Who won Wildlife Photographer of the Year in 2023?
It was Laurent Ballesta who was crowned Wildlife Photographer of the Year last year, for the second time.
His image was an “ethereal” picture of a shimmering golden horseshoe crab – seen gliding along the seabed in the protected waters of Pangatalan Island in the Philippines.
The horseshoe crab was accompanied by a trio of golden trevallies.
