{"id":3682,"date":"2026-10-15T16:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T20:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/elephant-elegy-leads-a-record-breaking-wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T16:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T20:07:13","slug":"elephant-elegy-leads-a-record-breaking-wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/elephant-elegy-leads-a-record-breaking-wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Elephant Elegy Leads a Record-Breaking Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A tender, arresting scene sits at the heart of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026: Federico Veronesi received the top honor for a black-and-white portrait of a female elephant carrying her deceased calf. Shot while he was tracking elephants in the Huab River Valley of Namibia, the encounter unfolded after he noticed unusual drag marks and then saw the adult emerge with the calf\u2019s leg wedged between her trunk and tusk. Veronesi\u2019s <em>The Aftermath<\/em> also tops the Behaviour: Mammals category, offering a rare view into animal responses that remain difficult to fully interpret. As a statement notes, \u201cBehaviours centering on death have been observed in both Asian and African elephants, including vocalisations, guarding the dead, inspecting and handling bones, and carrying the deceased. Some researchers suggest these behaviours could indicate an elephant\u2019s journey to understanding death, while others interpret these actions as possible displays of grief.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was a landmark year for the competition, with 65,403 entries from photographers in 121 countries, the largest turnout of submissions in its 62-year history. \u201cThis year\u2019s winning photographs demonstrate the extraordinary power of wildlife photography to help us see nature differently,\u201d says Dr. Doug Gurr, Director of the Natural History Museum. \u201cTogether they remind us that every species plays a role in the complex web of life, and why understanding and protecting the natural world has never been more important.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align:left\">Across categories: power, fragility, and surprising worlds<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Francisco Negroni (Chile), \u201cWarning Sign.\u201d Winner, Photojournalism:<\/strong> A dead puma set against the windswept expanse of Argentine Patagonia.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Kutub Uddin (Bangladesh\/U.K.), \u201cTiny Dancers,\u201d from the \u2018Secret Worlds\u2019 portfolio. Winner, Portfolio Award:<\/strong> Capillitium\u2014fine threads\u2014emerge on round, yellow-green slime molds, aiding future spore dispersal.<\/li>\n<li><strong>James Lewin (U.K.), \u201cThe Meeting Place.\u201d Winner, Animals in their Environment:<\/strong> A young bull elephant splashes a group of zebra gathered in the Kenyan Chyulu Hills.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Loren Elliott (U.S.), \u201cOn the Outskirts,\u201d from the \u2018Wily Coyotes of San Francisco\u2019 portfolio. Winner, Photojournalist Story Award:<\/strong> A coyote moves along a trail in Bernal Heights Park, overlooking the city and bay of San Francisco.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Agorastos Papatsanis (Greece), \u201cShedding Light.\u201d Winner, Plants and Fungi:<\/strong> Under ultraviolet light, the yellow stems of bonnet mushrooms glow as they sprout from a decaying log.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Anton Sorokin (U.S.), \u201cProtective Pose.\u201d Winner, Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles:<\/strong> A California newt lays its eggs while clasping vegetation that already holds another clutch.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Alex Visbal (Colombia), \u201cThe Great Divide.\u201d Winner, Wetlands: The Bigger Picture:<\/strong> A single engineered line cuts across and reshapes a wetland.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas (Germany), \u201cAfternoon Snack,\u201d from the \u2018Hidden Depths\u2019 portfolio. Winner, Rising Star Award:<\/strong> A robber fly impales a flesh fly with its needlelike mouthparts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Amelie Davis (U.K.), \u201cFlight of the Bumblebee.\u201d Winner, 10 Years and Under:<\/strong> A common carder bee hovers as it comes in to land on a flower in Surrey, England.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The 100 top images from this year\u2019s contest go on view tomorrow, October 16, at the Natural History Museum in London, where they\u2019ll be exhibited through July 11, 2027.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\"><em>V\u00eda <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/10\/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-2026-winners\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">thisiscolossal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Federico Veronesi\u2019s black-and-white image of a female elephant carrying her deceased calf won Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026, leading a record year with 65,403 entries from 121 countries. The 100 top images open October 16 at the Natural History Museum in London, on view through July 11, 2027.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-happening-now"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}