Seeking some eye candy? Look no further than these highly commended images submitted to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London, which is putting on an exhibition of the photos from Friday, October 11, 2024 through June 29, 2025. This dramatic macro view of Dawson’s burrowing bees shows males all attempting to mate with a female.
Pallas’s cats are a species of wild cat native to cold swaths of Asia, like Inner Mongolia. Here, one cat is seen just after catching a small bird (squashed beneath its paws), with the setting moon behind it. In this freeze frame, you may be duped into thinking these lions are in an argument.
Perhaps so, but they’re also post-coitus, having mated several times before this photo was taken. If you look closely, you can see tendrils of saliva and flying insects between the large cats. This requiem shark had the misfortune of being bycatch of a fishing boat in the South Atlantic Ocean.
The shark is captured contorting its body as it fights against the hook. About 80 million sharks are removed from the ocean each year. Today, about 75% of all shark species at risk of extinction.
A drone shot captures the majesty and mammoth size of a glacier in Norway. The image itself is a composite of 26 individual frames, capturing a glacier that is part of Austfonna, the third largest ice cap in Europe. Meltwater can be seen pouring off the top of the gla.