Voting has opened for the People's Choice Award in the annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
From a determined honey badger attempting to catch a spikey meal to a beluga whale exfoliating its skin, the 25 shortlisted photographs were chosen from 59,228 entries from 117 countries and territories.
Now, the public can vote for their favourite image either online, with voting closing on Wednesday 29 January 2025.
The winning image and the four runners-up will be announced in February 2025 and displayed online, joining the winners of the sixtieth competition to round out the awards.
Curious Connection by Nora Milligan (USA). A chimpanzee pauses and looks down as its family moves across the forest floor of Loango National Park, Gabon. On a trek through the forest, Nora’s guide signalled for the group to stop near the bank of a swamp. They heard the call of a chimp first, then the leaves around them started to rustle and a group of chimpanzees appeared. This family is called the Rekambo group. A group of researchers from the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project is studying them.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. It is a symbol of hope. A successful conservation movement led to the creation of the national park and a rise in ecotourism in the region. This has also helped to reduce conflict between pumas and local gauchos (sheep farmers). The gauchos view pumas more positively because they’re attracting tourists, which is good for income. The introduction of sheepdogs has also helped. The dogs confront any approaching pumas and stop them attacking the sheep. In turn, the pumas hunt their natural prey, and the gauchos are less likely to shoot them.Wolf Pack by Arvind Ramamurthy (India). Members of an Indian wolf pack pause briefly as they play in fields in Bhigwan, India. Indian wolves were once found all across India. Now, their number has dwindled to as few as 3,000. Living so close to humans poses many risks. Farming has fragmented their rolling grassland habitat, and feeding on cattle carcasses puts them at risk of disease. But Indian wolves are hardy animals. With better grassland management and protection, they could make a strong comeback.Annoying Neighbour by Bence Máté (Hungary). A European roller defends its territory from a bemused-looking little owl in Kiskunság National Park, Hungary. The little owl and the European roller are very different birds, but their nests and feeding requirements are similar. This means they sometimes breed near each other. The male roller makes a sport of annoying other birds that stray into its breeding area during the short mating season. It makes a surprise ambush, flying at full speed behind them. To catch such a fleeting scene, Bence spent 27 days watching from a hide. The little owl seemed nonplussed by the spectacle.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 Italy. It was a summer morning in the San Bartolomeo valley, in the Majella National Park, Italy. Carlo had visited this small stream many times. He expected to see the graceful flight of butterflies and dragonflies along it. He never thought he would find such a still life, a sad collage of dead insects calmly floating in the water.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. Found throughout Botswana, honey badgers are famously ferocious. They often chase animals many times their own size. This honey badger got an unpleasant surprise when it attacked the normally nocturnal Cape porcupine. The badger grabbed the porcupine’s right leg. In defence, the porcupine repeatedly backed into its attacker, piercing it with many quills.Aspen Shadows by Devon Pradhuman (USA). Four grey wolves cross a minimalist landscape of naked aspens and snow in Yellowstone National Park, USA. It was early spring in the Lamar Valley, and this pack was in search of its next meal. Watching from a distance, Devon saw them heading towards this patch of aspens and thought it would make a compelling image. The wolves walked right past these trees and then continued to follow the tree line, eventually disappearing over the hillside.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, she was transported for several days on the back of a camel to the northern coast of Somaliland. Illegal wildlife trafficking is a problem in the Somali Region. Farmers catch and sell cheetah cubs to traffickers, claiming that the cheetahs attack their livestock. Sometimes the farmers and traffickers cannot sell the cubs immediately. The bigger the cheetahs get, the harder it is to find buyers. Some end up being killed and their parts sold, their bones shipped to Yemen and then to other Asian markets. They are then sold as tiger bones and used to make Chinese bone wine. After hissing at the camera, the cub started chirping, calling out for its mother.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, UK. Residents had been leaving food scraps on the pavement for foxes. But Ian noticed that badgers from a nearby sett were also coming to forage. After seeing a badger walking along the pavement by this wall late one night, he decided to photograph it. He set up a small hide on the edge of the road to take his picture.Earth and Sky by Francisco Negroni (Chile). A double lenticular cloud is illuminated at nightfall by the lava emitted from the Villarrica volcano, Chile. Villarica is in the town of Pucón in the south of Chile. It’s one of the country’s most active volcanoes and last erupted in 2015. Francisco takes regular trips to Villarrica to monitor its activity. On this visit, he stayed nearby for 10 nights.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, a walrus carcass had attracted a female polar bear and her two cubs. But one of the cubs was more interested in playing in the water than eating. The cub was having fun diving under the water and resurfacing, playing with the seaweed and kelp. The northern fulmar resting on the surface of the water awakened the cub’s desire to hunt. Erlend watched as it attempted several underwater surprise attacks on the bird, only to fail each time. Play hunting like this is essential learning for a young bear. Eventually it will have to survive in the Arctic without its mother.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. They rely on a combination of good vision and excellent sense of smell to find food. Piotr watched this sengi over several weeks in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique.Slap Shot by Savannah Rose (USA). A beaver cocks its tail before slapping it down on the water to alert its family to a newcomer. Savannah enjoys photographing North American beavers in this pond in Jackson, Wyoming, USA. As she approached the shoreline, a beaver cruised cautiously by after emerging from its lodge. It cocked its tail up and brought it down with a resounding crack.
