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The winners of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 60 were announced during an awards ceremony at the Natural History Museum, London, on October 7.
Shane Gross won the Grand Title Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024 with an surreal photograph of a mass of western toad tadpoles swim under lily pads.
Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas won the top prize for Young Photographer of the Year 2024 for a macro image of a tiny springtail with the fruiting bodies of a slime mould.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London.
Scroll down to see the winners from NHM WPY 60.
Free as a Bird
Alberto Román Gómez | Winner, 10 Years and Under
Watching from the window of his father’s car at the edge of the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, Alberto found this young bird tricky to photograph as it was quickly flying back and forth, gathering insects. To Alberto, the stonechat displayed a sense of ownership, as if it were a young guardian overseeing its territory. This young bird has not yet developed its adult call, which sounds like two stones tapped together. Stonechats tend to prefer open habitats and typically perch on fences.
An Evening Meal
Parham Pourahmad | Winner, 11-14 Years
Over a single summer, Parham visited Ed R Levin County Park most weekends to take photographs. He wanted to showcase the variety of wildlife living within a busy metropolitan city, and to illustrate that ‘nature will always be wild and unpredictable’. The Cooper’s hawk is a common species across southern Canada, the USA, and central Mexico, where it inhabits mature and open woodlands. These adaptable birds also live in urban spaces, where there are tall trees to nest in, and bird feeders that attract smaller birds, which they can prey on.
Life Under Dead Wood
Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas | Winner, 15-17 Years | Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Alexis worked fast to take this photograph, as springtails can jump many times their body length in a split second. He used a technique called focus stacking, where 36 images, each with a different area in focus, are combined. Springtails are barely two millimetres long (less than a tenth of an inch). They are found alongside slime moulds and leaf litter all over the world. They feed on microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi, improving soil by helping organic matter to decompose.
Frontier of the Lynx
Igor Metelskiy | Winner, Animals in their Environment
The remote location and changing weather conditions made access to this spot– and transporting equipment there – a challenge. Igor positioned his camera trap near the footprints of potential prey.It took more than six months of waiting to achieve this relaxed image of the elusive lynx. A survey carried out in 2013 estimated the entire Russian lynx population was around 22,500 individuals, with numbers for the Russian FarEast, including those in Primorsky Krai, at 5,890.
On Watch
John E Marriott | Winner, Animal Portraits
John had been tracking this family group for almost a week, wearing snowshoes and carrying light camera gear to make his way through snowy forests. When fresh tracks led him to the group, he kept his distance to make sure he didn’t disturb them.Lynx numbers usually reflect the natural population fluctuations of their main prey species, the snowshoe hare. With climate change reducing snow coverage, giving other predators more opportunities to hunt the hares, hare populations may decline, in turn affecting the lynx population.
A Tranquil Moment
Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod | Winner, Behaviour: Mammals
Resting in a quiet place after a morning of photographing birds and leopards,Vinod soon realised he wasn’t alone. A troop of toque macaques was moving through the trees above. Vinod spotted this young monkey sleeping between feeds and used a telephoto lens to frame the peaceful moment.Toque macaques easily adapt to human foods, and the encroachment of plantations into their habitat has seen an increase in incidents of shooting, snaring and poisoning by farmers trying to preserve their crops
Wetland Wrestle
Karine Aigner, | Winner, Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles
The tour group Karine was leading had stopped to photograph some marsh deer when she noticed an odd shape floating in the water. Through binoculars, Karine quickly recognised the reptiles and watched as they struggled with each other. Caimans are generalist feeders and will eat snakes. As anacondas get larger, they will include reptiles in their diet. It’s hard to determine who is the aggressor here. On the snake’s back are two tabanids, blood-sucking horseflies that are known to target reptiles.
The Demolition Squad
Ingo Arndt | Winner, Behaviour: Invertebrates
‘Full of ant’ is how Ingo described himself after lying next to the ants’ nest for just a few minutes. Ingo watched as the red wood ants carved an already dead beetle into pieces small enough to fit through the entrance to their nest. Much of the red wood ants’ nourishment comes from honeydew secreted by aphids, but they also need protein. They are capable of killing insects and other invertebrates much larger than themselves through sheer strength in numbers.
A Diet of Deadly Plastic
Justin Gilligan | Winner, Oceans: The Bigger Picture
Justin has been documenting Adrift Lab’s work for several years, often joining them on beach walks at dawn to collect dead chicks. The team brings together biologists from around the world to study the impact of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems.Studies found that three quarters of adult flesh-footed shearwaters breeding onLord Howe Island – and 100% of fledglings – contained plastic. The team, including a Natural History Museum scientist, discovered it causes scarring to the lining of the digestive tract, a condition called plasticosis.
Old Man of the Glen
Fortunato Gatto | Winner, Plants and Fungi
Fortunato often visits the Glen Affric ancient pinewoods alone to lose himself inits intricate, chaotic, timeless beauty. The pale ‘old man’s beard’ lichens indicate that it’s an area of minimal air pollution.Glen Affric is home to the highest concentration of native trees in the UK, making it a vital ecosystem. Analysis of pollen preserved in the layered sediments shows that the forest has stood here for at least 8,300 years.
Tiger in Town
Robin Darius Conz | Winner, Urban Wildlife
Robin was following this tiger as part of a documentary team filming the wildlife of the Western Ghats. On this day, he used a drone to watch the tiger explore its territory before it settled in 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 astable population of tigers. Outside these areas, where development has created conflict between humans and wildlife, tiger occupancy has declined.
Practice Makes Perfect
Jack Zhi | Winner, Behaviour: Birds
Jack has been visiting this area for the past eight years, observing the constantpresence of one of the birds and photographing the chicks. On this day it was achallenge to track the action because the birds were so fast. Should this young peregrine falcon make it to adulthood, tests have shown itwill be capable of stooping, or dropping down on its prey from above, at speedsof more than 300 kilometres per hour (186 miles per hour).
Dusting for New Evidence
Britta Jaschinski | Winner, Photojournalism
Britta spent time at the CITES Border Force department where confiscated animal products are tested. Newly developed magnetic powder allows experts to obtain fingerprints from ivory up to 28 days after it was touched, increasing the chances of identifying those involved in its illegal trade. The International Fund for Animal Welfare has distributed more than 200 specially created kits to border forces from 40 countries. They have been instrumental in four cases that resulted in 15 arrests.
Dolphins of the Forest
Thomas Peschak | Winner, Photojournalist Story Award
Thomas Peschak documents the relationship between endangered Amazon river dolphins, also known as botos or pink river dolphins, and the people with whom they share their watery home. The Amazon river dolphin’s relationship with humans is complex. Traditional Amazonian beliefs hold that the dolphins can take on human form, and they are both revered and feared. Others see them as thieves who steal fish from nets and should be killed. Thomas took these images in areas where local communities are creating opportunities for tourists to encounter the dolphins. This brings another set of problems: when they’re fed by humans, the dolphins become unhealthy and younger individuals don’t learn to hunt for themselves.
