A snapshot of wriggling toad tadpoles has won the annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition for 2024.
Captured by Canadian photographer Shane Gross, the image was taken beneath a floating canopy of lily pads in Cedar Lake, Canada, as a swarm of western toad tadpoles glided through the water.
The Swarm of Life by Shane Gross, Canada – Winner, Wetlands: The Bigger Picture & Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024 overall winner(Image credit: Shane Gross / Wildlife Photographer of the Year).
“To me, the most fun that I can have, the thing that lights me up inside, is to see something new and try to photograph it in the best way I possibly can,” Gross told BBC News.
By moving carefully through the delicate layer of silt and algae at the lake’s bottom, he says he was able to ensure an unobstructed view for the shot.
“I had no idea if I had anything good at all until I got home," he said. "But when I finally looked, I was like, wow, this is pretty cool.”
"This image swirls with light, energy and a feeling of synchronised movement between the lilies and the tadpole tails," said Kathy Moran, Jury Chair and Editor. "The real payoff is that this wonderful scene highlights environments and species that are often overlooked."
This year, a record-breaking 59,228 entries were submitted to the competition from 117 countries and territories.
Closer to home, the competition proved a bumper one for Australian photographers, with WA's Jannico Kelk winning the Impact award. Jannico's image shows a ninu, with the wire grass and shrubs behind it providing a frame against the darkness.
Hope for the Ninu by Jannico Kelk, Australia – Winner, Impact Award. Jannico spent each morning walking the sand dunes of a conservation reserve, searching for footprints that this rabbit-sized marsupial may have left the night before. Finding tracks near a burrow, he set up his camera trap. The greater bilby has many Aboriginal names, including ninu. It was brought to near extinction through predation by introduced foxes and cats. Within fenced reserves where many predators have been eradicated, the bilby is thriving.Hope for the Ninu by Jannico Kelk, Australia – Winner, Impact Award (Image credit: Jannico Kelk / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In addition, Australian/UK photographer Matty Smith won the Underwater category, with his image Under the Waterline, captured in Antarctica.
Matthew Smith carefully photographs a curious leopard seal beneath the Antarctic ice. Matthew used a specially made extension he designed for the front of his underwater housing to get this split image. It was his first encounter with a leopard seal. The young seal made several close, curious passes. ‘When it looked straight into the lens barrel, I knew I had something good.’ Though leopard seals are widespread and abundant, overfishing, retreating sea ice and warming waters mean that krill and penguins – their main food sources – are both in decline.Under the Waterline by Matthew Smith, UK/Australia – Winner, Underwater (Image credit: Matthew Smith / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
And finally NSW's Justin Gilligan won the Oceans: The Bigger Picture category, with his image A Diet of Deadly Plastic.
Justin Gilligan (Australia) creates a mosaic from the 403 pieces of plastic found inside the digestive tract of a dead flesh-footed shearwater. Justin has been documenting Adrift Lab’s work for several years, often joining them on beach walks at dawn to collect dead chicks. The team brings together biologists from around the world to study the impact of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems. Studies found that three quarters of adult flesh-footed shearwaters breeding on Lord Howe Island – and 100% of fledglings – contained plastic. The team, including a Natural History Museum scientist, discovered it causes scarring to the lining of the digestive tract, a condition called plasticosis. A Diet of Deadly Plastic by Justin Gilligan, Australia – Winner, Oceans: The Bigger Picture (Image credit: Justin Gilligan / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
The award for the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year went to Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas from Germany, with his up-close image of a microscopic springtail next to fruiting slime mold.
Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, whose image also won the 15-17 years category, rolled over a log to take the shot, and had to act fast as springtails can jump many times their body length in a fraction of a second. He focus-stacked a total of 36 images, to achieve enough depth of field in his shot. Springtails are barely two millimeters long (less than a tenth of an inch), and are commonly found alongside slime molds and leaf litter worldwide. They feed on bacteria and fungi, and play a valuable role in improving soil by helping organic matter to decompose. (Image credit: Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
“A photographer attempting to capture this moment not only brings great skill, but incredible attention to detail, patience and perseverance. To see a macro image of two species photographed on the forest floor, with such skill, is exceptional,” commented Kathy Moran.
You can see a selection of the other category winners below.
Britta Jaschinski looks on as a crime scene investigator from London’s Metropolitan Police dusts for prints on a confiscated tusk. Britta spent time at the CITES Border Force department where confiscated animal products are tested. Newly developed magnetic powder allows experts to obtain fingerprints from ivory up to 28 days after it was touched, increasing the chances of identifying those involved in its illegal trade. The International Fund for Animal Welfare has distributed more than 200 specially created kits to border forces from 40 countries. They have been instrumental in four cases that resulted in 15 arrests. Dusting for New Evidence by Britta Jaschinski, Germany/UK – Winner, Photojournalism (Image credit: Britta Jaschinski / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)Fortunato Gatto comes across a gnarled old birch tree adorned with pale ‘old man’s beard’ lichens. Fortunato often visits the Glen Affric ancient pinewoods alone to lose himself in its intricate, chaotic, timeless beauty. The pale ‘old man’s beard’ lichens indicate that it’s an area of minimal air pollution. Glen Affric is home to the highest concentration of native trees in the UK, making it a vital ecosystem. Analysis of pollen preserved in the layered sediments shows that the forest has stood here for at least 8,300 years. Old Man of the Glen by Fortunato Gatto, Italy – Winner, Plants and Fungi (Image credit: Fortunato Gatto / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod finds this serene scene of a young toque macaque sleeping in an adult’s arms. Resting in a quiet place after a morning of photographing birds and leopards, Vinod soon realized he wasn’t alone. A troop of toque macaques was moving through the trees above. Vinod spotted this young monkey sleeping between feeds and used a telephoto lens to frame the peaceful moment. Toque macaques easily adapt to human foods, and the encroachment of plantations into their habitat has seen an increase in incidents of shooting, snaring and poisoning by farmers trying to preserve their crops. A Tranquil Moment by Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod, Sri Lanka – Winner, Behaviour: Mammals (Image credit: Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)Igor Metelskiy shows a lynx stretching in the early evening sunshine, its body mirroring the undulating wilderness. The remote location and changing weather conditions made access to this spot – and transporting equipment there – a challenge. Igor positioned his camera trap near the footprints of potential prey. It took more than six months of waiting to achieve this relaxed image of the elusive lynx. A survey carried out in 2013 estimated the entire Russian lynx population was around 22,500 individuals, with numbers for the Russian Far East, including those in Primorsky Krai, at 5,890. Frontier of the Lynx by Igor Metelskiy, Russia – Winner, Animals in their Environment (Image credit: Igor Metelskiy / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)Ingo Arndt documents the efficient dismemberment of a blue ground beetle by red wood ants. ‘Full of ant’ is how Ingo described himself after lying next to the ants’ nest for just a few minutes. Ingo watched as the red wood ants carved an already dead beetle into pieces small enough to fit through the entrance to their nest. Much of the red wood ants’ nourishment comes from honeydew secreted by aphids, but they also need protein. They are capable of killing insects and other invertebrates much larger than themselves through sheer strength in numbers. The Demolition Squad by Ingo Arndt, Germany – Winner, Behavior: Invertebrates (Image credit: Ingo Arndt / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)Jack Zhi enjoys watching a young falcon practicing its hunting skills on a butterfly, above its sea-cliff nest. Jack has been visiting this area for the past eight years, observing the constant presence of one of the birds and photographing the chicks. On this day it was a challenge to track the action because the birds were so fast. Should this young peregrine falcon make it to adulthood, tests have shown it will be capable of stooping, or dropping down on its prey from above, at speeds of more than 300 kilometers per hour (186 miles per hour). Practice Makes Perfect by Jack Zhi, USA – Winner, Behaviour: Birds (Image credit: Jack Zhi / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)Jiří Hřebíček creates an impressionistic vision of this perching carrion crow. Jiří often visits his local park in Basel as it’s an ideal place to experiment with camera techniques. To create this painterly effect of a sitting carrion crow, Jiří deliberately moved his camera in different directions while using a long shutter speed. Carrion crows are intelligent birds that have successfully adapted to living alongside humans, with gardens and parks providing a regular food supply. In Switzerland they are found north of the Alps, with some of the highest concentrations around Basel. The Artful Crow by Jiří Hřebíček, Czech Republic – Winner, Natural Artistry (Image credit: Jiri Hrebicek / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)John E Marriott frames a lynx resting, with its fully grown young sheltering from the cold wind behind it. John had been tracking this family group for almost a week, wearing snowshoes and carrying light camera gear to make his way through snowy forests. When fresh tracks led him to the group, he kept his distance to make sure he didn’t disturb them. Lynx numbers usually reflect the natural population fluctuations of their main prey species, the snowshoe hare. With climate change reducing snow coverage, giving other predators more opportunities to hunt the hares, hare populations may decline, in turn affecting the lynx population. On Watch by John E Marriott, Canada – Winner, Animal Portraits (Image credit: John Marriott / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)Karine Aigner recognizes the skin of a yellow anaconda as it coils itself around the snout of a yacaré caiman. The tour group Karine was leading had stopped to photograph some marsh deer when she noticed an odd shape floating in the water. Through binoculars, Karine quickly recognized the reptiles and watched as they struggled with each other. Caimans are generalist feeders and will eat snakes. As anacondas get larger, they will include reptiles in their diet. It’s hard to determine who is the aggressor here. On the snake’s back are two tabanids, blood-sucking horseflies that are known to target reptiles. Wetland Wrestle by Karine Aigner, USA – Winner, Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles (Image credit: Karine Aigner / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)Robin Darius Conz watches a tiger on a hillside against the backdrop of a town where forests once grew. Robin was following this tiger as part of a documentary team filming the wildlife of the Western Ghats. On this day, he used a drone to watch the tiger explore its territory before it settled in this spot. The protected areas in the Western Ghats, where tigers are carefully monitored, are some of the most biodiverse landscapes in India and have a stable population of tigers. Outside these areas, where development has created conflict between humans and wildlife, tiger occupancy has declined. Tiger in Town by Robin Darius Conz, Germany – Winner, Urban Wildlife (Image credit: Robin Darius / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)Sage Ono explores the abundant life around the giant kelp forests in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Inspired by the stories told by his grandfather, a retired marine biologist, and by a photograph of a larval cusk eel, Sage acquired a compact underwater camera and decided to take up underwater photography. After university, he moved to the coast near the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to pursue his interest. Here, it’s the submerged world of the bay’s forests of giant kelp – the biggest of all seaweeds – and the diversity of life they contain, that have captured his imagination. The Serengeti of the Sea by Sage Ono, USA – Winner, Rising Star Portfolio Award (Image credit: Stage Ono / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
