Wildlife

Photo © Simon Heather

1st classified

Solidarity
by Mehdi Mohebipour


Flamingos sleep together at night for greater security and stay close together during the day, thus protecting each other. In this crowd of bodies the colorful nuances of the plumage and the reflections of the light stand out.

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Runner up

Learning Life
by Florian Ledoux


A young polar bear, a yearling, is playing in the water testing the fresh ice and jumping back and forth in the water with his sibling, while their mother is resting nearby. This image is the result of 5 months in the field, living with and near the bears in a remote camp on the...

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Highly commended

Feast
by Igor Altuna


This picture was taken in the South Luangwa National Park, Zambia. A dead hippopotamus is being eaten by crocodiles in the Luangwa River. The predators blend in with the muddy water, while the prey stands out with its brighter skin color and catches the viewer's eye.

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Highly commended

Magic Polar Bears
by Florian Ledoux


Aerial image of two young adult polar bears playing together on the very fresh fast ice all night long. A slippery place where they made holes, dived, ice skated, being away from all the trouble reserved for them. This unique experience was the result of 5 months in the field, l...

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Highly commended

Blue
by Fernando O'farrill


The blue whale is not only the biggest animal on earth but the biggest that has ever existed. During the 20th century thousands of blue whales were killed by both legal and illegal hunting. After such a big drop on their population, and a lot of effort from international organiza...

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Highly commended

Siberian Whirlpool
by Dipabrata Sur


Every winter, at this very location, thousands of migratory seagulls come from Siberia to India and early in the morning these birds gather at Yamuna Ghat where they are fed bird food by the local people. The photographer is using a slow shutter to give the event a surreal look.

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Commended

Lost at Sea
by Shah Paran


44 feet long and 26 feet wide giant dead whale has washed up on the Cox’s Bazar beach, drawing crowds of curious onlookers. From above the animal looks pretty small compared to the enormity of the ocean, though the people look even smaller.

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Commended

Pink Flight
by Kateryna Polishchuk


This is the shore of Lake Syvash in the Kherson region in the south of Ukraine. Part of this lake is pink and offers different abstract composition opportunities. A beautiful white bird is flying over it, guiding the viewer's eye through the picture.

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Commended

Galloping in the snowfield
by Liangming Deng


A drone photo about the wildlife in Hoh Xil area in west China. From above, wild animals free to run across the wasteland paint the barren, dark landscape with dusty trails. The whitish lines rise illuminated by the twilight, forming clouds of different intensity that guide the o...

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Commended

Whooper Swans
by Terje Kolaas


It is an unusual cold winter and the lake is about to cover with ice. A group of Whooper Swans collects food along the ice edge, that has just been covered by snow. The contrast between the black and white colored elements makes the picture perfectly divided in two and specular.

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Commended

Flamingos Migration
by Salem Alsawafi


A picture of the migration of flamingos that the photographer took in one of the reserves in the United Arab Emirates, specifically in Dubai, where the largest protected areas for migratory birds in the country are located.

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Commended

Great White Vortex
by Clay Folden


A juvenile Great White Shark swimming through bait schools in the shallows off of a beach near Santa Barbara. The swirling trail behind him is called a vortex trail. This 'wake' is created by the oscillating movement of the shark's tail, causing small contrasting vortices, which...

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Commended

Onde de Choc, de Tendresse et d'Ecume
by Denise Azuelos


Suddenly the sea turns to foam. Breaking an apparent calm and moments of infinite sweetness with her cub, this humpback whale begins to hit the surface of the water with the full force of her tail fin. Perhaps a shark has broken the tranquility and to protect her baby this female...

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Commended

Winter Ice
by Florian Ledoux


Aerial view of a female polar bear standing on an ice floe, looking after her two-yearling cub playing on the side. Images are taken in the field with the polar bears for 5 months, living near them and spending hours each day with them allowing us to capture natural behaviours.

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Commended

Harbor Seal on Ice
by Francisco Urena


In the picture, a seal popping up out of a frosty Marblehead Harbor. They call these ice discs, or ice pancakes. When the harbor reaches below zero temperatures, it freezes over in parts with wake and tide action, a solid sheet of ice is prevented from forming. Smaller discs, or...

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Commended

Shadows of the Desert
by Bastian Brüsecke


Sometimes we have to look at the shadow of a subject first to understand what it is about. The photographer took this picture on a several weeks-long desert expedition. Especially in the Omani part of the Empty Quarter there are still some wild camels living today and they appear...

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Commended

Hipposurf
by Igor Altuna


The photo is made in South Luangwa National Park. A dead hippopotamus is being eaten by a crocodile in the Luangwa River. The prey seems enormous compared to the small predator, yet it looks like it is helplessly submitted to the crocodile.

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Commended

Traces in Water
by İsmail Serhat Şahin


The real owners of the Salt Lake, the flamingos, offer us a unique view with the traces they leave on the water with the first light of the morning. They're flying away, leaving their sleeping spot.

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Commended

Mercy of the Tides
by Nansen Weber


A group of 24 beluga whales stranded in a tidal pool in the Cunningham River. Anxiously fighting for the deepest water as the tide retreats, the larger whales push the smaller whales to the exterior. The group of whales were stranded for an entire tide and luckily escaped before...

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Commended

Dawn Patrol
by Nansen Weber


A large male polar bear patrols the ice looking for any sign of seals. This image was taken during a late evening on a remote fiord on Ellesmere Island. As the sun beings to heat up and summer approaches the first seals appear on the ice and bears cruise the land looking for a me...

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