Breathtaking images, including a bright blue European roller bird annoying a bemused-looking owl, a badger checking out badger graffiti and a frightened baby cheetah cub waiting to be sold at market, are among those shortlisted for a prestigious photography award.
The 25 shots have been shortlisted for the People’s Choice Award of the prestigious Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year prize. Four are from UK entrants.
Members of the public are now being invited to have their say and vote for their favourite image for the People’s Choice Award on the museum’s website and via interactive screens at the museum until 29 January next year.
The winning image and four runners-up will be announced in February and displayed online.
Pic: Nora Milligan/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Curious Connection by Nora Milligan (USA)
A large male chimp from a family called the Rekambo group peers through the leaves to get a better view of a group of researchers studying them.
Taken in Loango National Park, Gabon, near the bank of a swamp, he seems to be craning his neck forward, as if to get a better look.
Pic: Jess Findlay/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Edge of Night by Jess Findlay (Canada)
A ghostly barn owl exits the hayloft window of a derelict barn to hunt in fields outside Vancouver, Canada.
An invisible beam was set up so the camera flash would trigger when the owl flew out of the barn – and it captured the shot first time.
Pic: Ian Wood/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
No Access by Ian Wood (UK)
An ambling Eurasian badger appears to glance up at badger graffiti on a quiet road in St Leonards-on-Sea, England.
Attracted by food scraps left on the pavement for foxes, the ambling creature seems to be assessing the artwork as he passes along.
Pic: Sue Flood/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Icy Repose by Sue Flood (UK)
A Weddell seal slumbers on an ice floe in Neko Harbour of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Weddell seals’ large bodies are covered in a thick layer of blubber. This keeps them warm above and below the icy waters of the Southern Ocean.
Pic: Piotr Naskrecki/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Snuffling Sengi by Piotr Naskrecki (Poland)
A rarely seen four-toed sengi forages for food among the leaf litter in Mozambique. Sengis mainly eat insects and look for their prey at dusk and dawn.
The shy and skittish elephant shrews rely on a combination of good vision and excellent sense of smell to find food.
Pic: Michel d’Oultremont/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Whiteout by Michel d’Oultremont (Belgium)
Without careful studying, you could miss this image completely, as a curious stoat blends into a snowy landscape in Belgium.
It came out of its snowy hole and sat up from time to time, observing its territory just before setting off to hunt.
Pic: Francisco Negroni/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Earth and Sky by Francisco Negroni (Chile)
A double lenticular cloud is illuminated at nightfall by the lava emitted from the Villarrica volcano in the south of Chile.
It’s one of the country’s most active volcanoes and last erupted in 2015.
Pic: Arvind Ramamurthy/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Wolf Pack by Arvind Ramamurthy (India)
Members of an Indian wolf pack pause briefly as they play in fields in Bhigwan, India.
Once found all across India, their number has now dwindled to as few as 3,000 as their natural habitat is fragmented by farming.
Pic: Aaron Baggenstos/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Scanning the Realm by Aaron Baggenstos (USA)
A puma stands on a windswept outcrop in the rugged mountain terrain of Torres del Paine National Park, Chile.
A symbol of hope, long-time conflict between the pumas and local sheep farmers has declined thanks to a successful conservation movement encouraging ecotourism in the region.
Pic: Ivan Ivanek/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Togetherness by Ivan Ivanek (Czech Republic)
A striking pair of red-shanked douc langurs are seen mating in the forests of the Son Tra peninsula in Vietnam.
Known for their bright red stockings, these critically endangered primates are found only in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
Pic: Brad Leue/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
The Arrival by Brad Leue (Australia)
Floodwaters that have travelled for months surge towards an enormous salt lake in South Australia.
Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre is Australia’s largest inland lake and one of the world’s largest salt lakes.
Pic: Bence Mate/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Annoying Neighbour by Bence Máté (Hungary)
A European roller defends its territory from a bemused-looking little owl in Kiskunság National Park, Hungary.
The male roller makes a sport of annoying other birds that stray into its breeding area during the short mating season. The shot took 27 days to capture.
Pic: Carlo D’Aurizio/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Fallen from the Sky by Carlo D’Aurizio (Italy)
A collage of dead butterflies and moths trapped by the surface tension of the water floats in a stream in the San Bartolomeo valley, in the Majella National Park, Italy.
With the stream normally animated by butterflies and dragonflies, and with no recent hot or stormy weather, the photographer has no explanation of why the insects died.
Pic: Christian Brinkmann/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Evening Song by Christian Brinkmann (Germany)
A singing Eurasian songbird is silhouetted against a backdrop of colourful fairground lights in Münster, Germany.
Taken during a popular local fair called the Send, the bird appears to pose for its song against the colourful backdrop.
Pic: Devon Pradhuman/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Aspen Shadows by Devon Pradhuman (USA)
Four grey wolves cross a minimalist landscape of naked aspens and snow in Yellowstone National Park, USA.
Taken in early spring in the Lamar Valley, this pack was in search of its next meal.
Pic: Mark Williams/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
A Good Scratch by Mark Williams (UK/Canada)
A beluga whale rubs its underside on a shallow river bottom to exfoliate its skin.
Taken in a remote inlet along the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic, this area is a safe haven, away from predatory orcas.
Pic: Jose Fragozo/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Unsold by Jose Fragozo (Portugal)
A young cheetah cub hisses while waiting to be sold in Ethiopia.
Captured from her home plains in the Somali Region and transported for several days on the back of a camel to the northern coast of Somaliland, she called out for her mother after hissing at the camera.
Pic: Michael Forsberg/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Meeting in the Marsh by Michael Forsberg (USA)
A disguised biologist approaches an endangered whooping crane in Louisiana, USA.
Acting with cat-like quickness, the biologist checked the bird’s health and changed a transmitter that was no longer working.
Pic: Erlend Haarberg/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Sneak Attack by Erlend Haarberg (Norway)
A polar bear cub attempts an underwater surprise attack on a northern fulmar in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard.
More interested in playing in the water than eating, it attempts several underwater surprise attacks, failing each time.
Pic: Savannah Rose/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Slap Shot by Savannah Rose (USA)
A beaver cocks its tail before slapping it down on the water to alert its family to an interloper in this pond in Jackson, Wyoming, USA.
Despite the theatrics, beavers usually relax quickly once they discover the newcomer doesn’t pose a threat.
Pic: Willie Burger van Schalkwyk/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
The Brave Gecko by Willie Burger van Schalkwyk (South Africa)
A giant ground gecko stands fast against a pale chanting goshawk in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa.
Despite putting up a brave fight against its large attacker, the brave little fellow sadly didn’t survive.
Pic: Samuel Bloch/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Forest of Dreams by Samuel Bloch (France)
A northern giant petrel sits on its nest at the edge of a rata tree forest on Enderby Island, New Zealand.
The large seabirds can fly above the waves for weeks without encountering land.
Pic: David Northall/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Spiked by David Northall (UK)
A bloodied yet determined honey badger returns to finish off a Cape porcupine, which earlier had tried to defend itself.
Famously ferocious, this badger got an unpleasant surprise when the porcupine repeatedly backed into its attacker after being bitten in the leg, piercing it with many quills. It finally lost the fight.
Pic: Noam Kortler/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Drifting Dinner by Noam Kortler (Israel)
A decorator crab perches on top of a sea squirt to comb the water for drifting plankton off Komodo island, Indonesia.
The sea squirt provided the crab with the perfect stage to feed on drifting plankton.
Pic: Vincent Premel/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Concert in the Forest by Vincent Premel (France)
A Surinam golden-eyed tree frog puffs out its cheeks as it prepares to call for a mate following the first rains in French Guiana after a long dry spell.
Here to lay their eggs in the water, in an event called explosive breeding, their call is so powerful it can be heard hundreds of metres away.