2021 overall winner
French underwater photographer and biologist Laurent Ballesta won the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year this year for his mysterious photograph "Creation," which captures the rare scene of two freshwater groupers excreting milky white clumps containing eggs and sperm at Fakarava Atoll in French Polynesia.
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The British Museum of Natural History has just announced the winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest, and the photos are as stunning as ever.
In the 57th edition, 50,000 entries from 95 countries competed for the prize, ranging from reindeer wars to poisonous spiders hiding under their beds.
This year's Annual Wildlife Photographer Competition is divided into 16 categories: animals in the environment, animal portraits, mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, invertebrates, etc., with wonderful formats. Let's share the winning works in each category with you!
#1 Animal Portrait Category Champion "Reflections"
Author: Majed Ali
Majed traveled for 4 hours to meet The Nearly 40-year-old mountain gorilla Kiband. Majed recalls that the higher we climbed, the hotter and wetter the weather became. As the cool rain began to fall, Kiband was still outdoors and seemed to be enjoying a shower.
Mountain gorillas are a subspecies of eastern gorillas found in two isolated populations at an altitude of more than 1400 meters above sea level in Mount Virunga and Bouen. These gorillas are on the verge of extinction due to habitat loss, disease, poaching and habitat destruction caused by human activities.
#2 Natural Art Category Highly Praised: Stardust
Written by Christian Spencer
A black Jacobin bird hovers in front of the morning light, and as the light penetrates its wings, the feathers are "covered with rainbows." Christian used high-altitude clouds as a secondary filter to reveal this prism effect that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye.
Hummingbirds have the fastest wing beats in the bird world – up to 90 beats per second. When light passes through the narrow gap between the feathers, it is split or diffracted into the color of a rainbow, producing a shimmer.
#3 Bird Behavior Champion "Intimate Contact"
By Shane Kalyn
It was the middle of winter, the beginning of the crow breeding season. Lying on the frozen ground, Shane uses soft light to capture the details of crows' rainbow-colored feathers in contrasting snowscapes to reveal intimate moments when their thick black beaks come together. Crows may mate for life. The couple exchanged gifts — moss, branches and small stones — and bragged and serenadeed each other with soft chirps to strengthen their relationship or 'lovers.'"
#4 Photojournalist Story Award Winner: Flight Rescue
By Shane Kaly
Anthony, a pilot in Virunga National Park, sent two orphan chimpanzees to safety at a rehabilitation center.
The babies were rescued from traffickers at the behest of locals. The meat of chimpanzees is not of much value, but is often sold as pets or animal shows. At this stage, they are unlikely to survive without professional care, requiring formula and a regular balanced diet.
#5 Wetlands Are Highly Praised: Turtles in Paradise
By Henley Spiers
In the Aktun Ha natural well in Mexico, a red-eared slippery turtle swims peacefully among water lilies.
The limestone of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula is dotted with thousands of natural wells that are connected by an underground river system. Some natural wells are underground caves, while others where rocks fall into them are open-air pools.
#6 Plants and Fungi Highly Praised: Fantastic Rainforest
By Daniel Rosengren
#7 Ocean Class Highly Praised "A Distressing Thing"
By Michael Watson
A young gray seal cried out in pain, and a long plastic fishing rope plunged deep into its body.
When Michael heard the seals screaming in pain, he was photographing the seal colony along Lincolnshire Beach. This unfortunate animal may have been entangled in this rope while it was still a puppy, and as it grew, it cut deeper and deeper into its body.
#8 Urban Wildlife Champion Spider House
Written by Gil Wizen
The Brazilian stray spider is one of the most poisonous spiders in the world, and they are used to hunting for prey such as frogs and cockroaches at night.
#9 Animals in the environment are highly praised for Snow Leopard Summer
Written by Xiaoyun Luo
A snow leopard and three cubs sleep among the rocks. While observing the leopard with a drone, I noticed the remains of a blue sheep that had most likely just eaten the sheep.
#10 Photojournalist Story Award Winner: Flight Rescue
The grey-headed flying fox orphan puppy was about three weeks old when it was found on the ground, probably fell and was sent to the Black Rock Animal Shelter. After a week of round-the-clock care, the little one begins to recover. Female grey-headed flying foxes carry their cubs with them during the first three weeks of foraging flights and then leave them. Young birds can fly at three months of age, but do not wean until five to six months.
#11 Photojournalism Highly Praised "Captivity"
By Celina Chien
At China's Yunnan Wildlife Park, a male Bornean orangutan clutches a latch between indoor outer bars.
Serena said, "When I saw him, I stood there and watched helplessly as he shook the hatch on the latch, and I immediately burst into tears."
#12 Plants and Fungi Highly Praised For The Magic of Mushrooms
By Juergen Freund
One summer night, Jürgen searches the rainforest for bioluminescent ghost fungi. He searched the darkness for a strange glow that was imperceptible to the naked eye, only to see such a magical sight: hordes of ghost fungi seemed to climb up to the bottom of a dead tree. The bioluminescence of the phantom fungus is produced by the chemical interaction of a compound called luciferin and luciferase in the presence of oxygen. This luminous function remains a mystery to be solved.
#13 Rising Star Portfolio Award Winner "Easy Family"
By Martin Gregus
Polar bear cubs are born in winter and can breastfeed for up to two years. Once accustomed to Martin's boat camp, bears often wandered around. Determined that the mother bear and cub were unaware of his presence, Martin left the ship and crept closer. He kept a respectful distance, close enough to hear the cubs feeding and purring, "an unbelievable sound, like the buzzing of a small helicopter".
#14 Ocean Class Highly Praised Death of the Reef
By David Doubilet
David has been diving here for over 30 years. His photographs show corals through "the lens of time and climate change," which is likely to become a record of a vanished world.
Coral communities are made up of thousands of polyps, each secreting calcium carbonate to build their own home. Polyps feed on food produced by algae inside their cells. When corals are under superheated pressure, they become bleached, excreting algae and turning white.
#15 Press Photo Award Winner: Indoor Elephant
By Adam Oswell
At a zoo in Thailand, a group of tourists watched and took pictures, and a baby elephant performed tricks underwater. The author uses his photographs to draw attention to crowds of onlookers, rather than the elephants themselves, raising questions about this form of tourism and entertainment.
#16 Urban Wildlife Highly Praised Lynx on the Threshold
By Sergio Marijuán
After months of waiting, Sergio's elaborate camera trap finally gave him the photo he wanted: a young Iberian lynx perfectly framed at the door of an abandoned hay shed on a farm in Spain.
As early as the beginning of the 20th century, bobcats were widely distributed on the Iberian Peninsula. By 2002, the loss of hunting and habitat had pushed the species to the brink of extinction, when fewer than 100 lynx were found in Spain. Today, the Iberian lynx population is on the rise thanks to ongoing conservation efforts.
#17 Animal Champion in the Environment The Rest of the Grizzly Bear
By Zack Clothier
Grizzly bears are a subspecies of brown bears that hibernate for up to 7 months. They appear in the spring, hungry, and eat a wide variety of foods, including mammals.
#18 Oceans – Bigger Picture Class Highly Praised Net Loss
By Audun Rikardsen
Marine biologist Audun spotted this herd of floating dead herring during a sea expedition with the Norwegian Coast Guard. A fishing boat appeared on the horizon, it was overloaded, and the net was broken.
Overfishing is one of the biggest threats to marine ecosystems. Overfishing is faster than fish populations are recovering. It is estimated that one third of the world's fish stocks are being extracted at unsustainable levels.
#19 15-17 years old Flying Jay
By Lasse Kurkela
Russ wanted to give a sense of scale in his photographs of Siberian jays, which were small in ancient spruce-dominated forests. He used cheese slices to get the birds used to his remote control cameras and encouraged them to fly along specific flight paths.
Siberian jays use old trees as food pantries. Their sticky saliva helps them glue food such as seeds, berries, rodents and insects into holes and crevices in the bark, and between hanging lichens.
#20 11-14 years old Apollo Landing
By Emelin Dupieux
Meadows full of flowers, full of flying Apollo butterflies, surround the Holiday Cottage of Emmeline's house. Spotting butterflies on wooded hills in meadows, Emelin fulfilled his dream of photographing "magnificent Apollo."
Apollo butterflies found at high altitudes in European mountain ranges are vulnerable to climate change because their life cycle depends on snow. Snow forms a layer of insulation over butterfly eggs that prevents them from forming ice, which means that the reduction in snowfall can affect the butterfly's survival.
#21 Ocean - Bigger Picture Category Champion Nursery Crash
Written by Jennifer Hayes
After a storm, helicopters spent hours searching to find the fractured sea ice, which was used as a fertility platform for Greenland seals. "That's the pulse of life, and you can't breathe," Jennifer said.
Every autumn, Greenland seals migrate south from the Arctic to their breeding grounds, delaying their birth until sea ice forms. Seals rely on ice to survive, which means future populations could be affected by climate change.
#22 Animal Portrait Class Highly Praised Storm Fox
By Jonny Armstrong
Jonny and his colleagues asked the red fox to reach them before dawn, saying it was awkward to adjust the manual flash, so he preset the power of the soft spotlight just enough to show the texture of the fox fur at a relatively close distance.
Red foxes live in different habitats around the world. Jonny had been stalking the fox for days, watching it forage for berries, pounce on songbirds, and playfully bite the heel of a small brown bear.
#23 Mammalian Behavior Highly Praises Deadly Crowding
Written by Douglas Gimesy
The sweltering heat of the Australian summer has led a group of grey-headed flying foxes to abandon their habitat on top of trees and flock around tree trunks in hopes of escaping the sweltering heat of the day.
Sadly, this "clumping" behavior only exacerbates their heat stress as bats come together and get hotter and hotter. Eventually, one person may fall, knock someone else down, form a pile at the bottom of the tree. Unable to move, the bats get hotter and suffocate each other.
#24 Portfolio Award Winner Parenting Mouth
By Angel Fitor
A female yellow sand cicada releases its fry from the concealment of its mouth.
After spawning, as the fry develops, the female carries the eggs in her mouth for about three weeks. Once they are ready to swim, the fry are released. From that moment on, when parents need rest or protection, they put fry in their mouths.
#25 Urban Wildlife Highly Praised "The Nest of Chaos"
By Elisize Labuschagnei - Hull
Eliza had heard that there was an elusive nest in that place. After seeing the predator, she followed it into the garbage heap in search of food. Elize caught the moment it glanced up as it foraged, with a restaurant bill glued to its head.
#26 10 years old and under highly praised "Blocking birds"
Written by Gagana Mendis Wickramasinghe
During the long lockdown period of 2020, Gagana watched a pair of rose ringed parakeets raising their cubs in a dead tree outside his house in Colombo. From the balcony, Gargana caught the moment when three small birds peeked out of the nest.
The rose-ringed parakeet is native to South Asia and parts of Central Africa. Wild populations of these bright green birds have also been established in cities around the world, where they may compete with local species for nesting sites.
#27 Bird Behavior Class Highly Praised "To Be Determined"
Written by Jack Zhi
In order to capture this fleeting shot, Jack had to abandon his tripod, grab the camera and run. This is the highlight of three years of observing the work of the white-tailed kite. In the end, everything fits together perfectly.
Young white-tailed kites must learn to exchange food with their parents in the air until they are able to prey on their own — usually circling and then descending to catch small mammals. After that, they need to perform aerial courtship rituals, where the male provides prey to the female.
#28 Urban Wildlife Class Highly Praised Spot of Trouble
Author: Georg Kantioler
George photographed the wasps in the early morning, when they were at their most docile. He approached at large angles for maximum impact. Georg recalls: "I had to move very slowly and wrap my body tightly so as not to get too many stabs.
The hexagonal hive where the queen bee lays eggs is made up of a mixture of wood pulp and saliva. The colony began with a traditional shrine on the side of the road, decorated with corn cobs in gratitude for the harvest.
#29 Mammalian Champion Head to Head
By Stefano Unterthiner
Stefano tracks these reindeer during the estrus season. Watching the game, he felt himself immersed in "smells, noises, fatigue and pain." Reindeer collide with each other's antlers until the dominant buck (left) drives the rival away, securing the chance of mating.
Reindeer are widely distributed in the Arctic, but this subspecies is found only in Svalbard. The population is affected by climate change, and increased rainfall can cause the ground to freeze, preventing plants from growing that would otherwise be covered in soft snow.
#30 2021 Wildlife Photographer Adult Champion Creation
By Laurent Ballesta
For five years, Laurent and his team have been back in this lagoon, diving day and night to watch the annual camouflaged grouper spawn. After dark, fish-hunting reef sharks join them.
Spawning occurs around the full moon in July, when up to 20,000 fish congregate in Fakarava, a place located in a narrow southern waterway that connects the lagoon to the ocean. Overfishing threatens this species, but the fish here are protected within biosphere reserves.
#31 Underage Champion The Dome
By Vidyun R Hebbar (10 years old)
This is the winner of the underage group of the 2021 International Wildlife Photography Contest, and the photo shows a spider stuck in a spider's web, which presents a dome house structure. The blurred yellow-green background is a three-wheeled rickshaw, and this photo is well focused and targeted at the spider, and if people zoom in carefully on the photo, they can clearly see the details of the spider's body. Vidyun R Hebbar, the photographer, said: "It is difficult for the camera to focus on the spider, because there are often vehicles passing by on the road, and the spider web will vibrate. ”
#32 Wetland Landscape Champion "Road to Ruins"
By Javier Lafuente
This photo shows a straight road through the wetland landscape, which is home to more than 100 species of birds, including some migratory birds such as ospreys and hummingbirds. Built in the 1980s, this road bisects the wetlands and provides easy access to the beach.
#33 Invertebrate Champion "Textile Cradle"
Jill Wieson, an entomologist and professional photographer who photographed a fishing spider stretching out of a silk spater for weaving its egg sacs, a spider species that normally lives in the wet and temperate forests of eastern North America, won first place in photography in the invertebrate category.
Appreciation of other water photography-related works
Enjoy more entries/winning entries,
You can go to the official website of the contest: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy
Disclaimer: This article is compiled and edited by YouDive from the network news, with reference to the public account Water Holly (ID: shuidongqin1).