**Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024: Celebrating Nature’s Beauty, Struggle, and Resilience**
This year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, held at London’s Natural History Museum, has once again brought together some of the world’s most inspiring images of the natural world. Photographers of all ages and backgrounds submitted their work, capturing moments of incredible beauty, drama, and urgency from ecosystems across the globe. The winning images not only showcase stunning artistry but also highlight the fragility of our planet’s wildlife and habitats.
**A Decade in the Making: The Winning Image**
The top honor this year went to South African photographer Wim van den Heever for his haunting image of a brown hyena standing beside the crumbling ruins of an abandoned diamond mining settlement in Kolmanskop, Namibia. The photograph is the result of van den Heever’s decade-long quest to capture one of the most elusive and rarest hyenas in the world. Despite years of finding only tracks and traces, he persisted, setting up camera traps in the ghost town. Eventually, his patience was rewarded with a singular image: the shy, nocturnal brown hyena pausing in the desolate landscape, a poignant symbol of survival in a world shaped by human abandonment.
Van den Heever’s photograph not only stands out for its visual impact but also as a meditation on the intersection between wildlife and human history. The brown hyena’s solitary figure against the backdrop of industrial decay tells a story of endurance and adaptation, signaling both hope and vulnerability for the species.
**Spotlight on Young Talent**
The competition’s junior categories continue to nurture the next generation of wildlife photographers. The Grand Prize in the 15- to 17-year-old category went to Andrea Dominizi from Italy for "After the Destruction." Dominizi’s image, taken in the Lepini Mountains, shows a beetle resting on a sawed tree stump beside abandoned logging machinery. The photograph is a subtle yet powerful commentary on habitat loss and the challenges faced by countless species as forests are cleared. Dominizi’s work serves as a reminder that the struggle for survival is not limited to charismatic megafauna but extends to the smallest creatures, whose fate is intertwined with the health of their habitats.
In the 10 Years and Under category, Jamie Smart from the UK captured "The Weaver’s Lair," featuring an orb-weaver spider curled up in its silken retreat on a chilly morning in mid-Wales. The young photographer relished the opportunity to present a creature often misunderstood and feared, encouraging viewers to appreciate its hidden beauty and ecological importance.
**Nature’s Drama: Animal Behaviors on Display**
Several awards celebrated the remarkable behaviors of animals in their natural environments. Shane Gross of Canada, last year’s winner, spent weeks on D’Arros Island in the Seychelles to photograph peppered moray eels scavenging for carrion at low tide. Enduring intense heat and swarms of insects, Gross’s patience paid off when three eels emerged to feed on washed-up fish, offering a rare glimpse into the survival strategies of reef dwellers.
In the "Behaviour: Mammals" category, Dennis Stogsdill from the USA captured the seldom-seen spectacle of a caracal hunting flamingos at Tanzania’s Ndutu Lake in Serengeti National Park. Caracals are renowned for their acrobatic bird-hunting skills, but such interactions with flamingos are extremely rare. Stogsdill’s image freezes a moment of raw predatory instinct amid the vibrant chaos of the lake’s birdlife.
"Synchronised Fishing," by Qingrong Yang of China, was recognized in the "Behaviour: Birds" category. Yang’s photograph, taken at Yundang Lake, Fujian Province, captures the split-second drama of a ladyfish snatching prey just below a little egret’s poised beak. It’s a vivid reminder of the fierce competition and delicate balance of life in aquatic ecosystems.
Quentin Martinez from French Guiana claimed the "Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles" award with his image "Frolicking Frogs." Braving a torrential downpour, Martinez photographed lesser tree frogs congregating in a forest pool, their skin gleaming in the rain as they gathered to breed—a celebration of life’s tenacity in the rainforest.
**Portraits and Personalities of the Wild**
Philipp Egger’s "Shadow Hunter," shot in South Tyrol, Italy,