More than 65,000 images by photographers in 121 countries have been distilled to a shortlist of 100 in this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year. The selection spans animal behaviour, portraits, and photojournalism, presenting encounters that oscillate between tenderness, family bonds, and the troubling impacts of human intervention.
Highlights from the shortlist
Among the Highly Commended works, Audun Rikardsen’s Icy Window (Arctic sea ice north of Svalbard, Norway) peers up from a seal’s perspective at a polar bear gazing into a breathing hole, earning recognition in Animal Portraits. Ernest Porter’s Mutual Friends (Manyeleti Game Reserve, Mpumalanga, South Africa), in Behaviour: Birds, times the moment an oxpecker cleans its bill against a rhino’s skin.
In Behaviour: Mammals, Vegard Byrkjeland Aasen’s Lifted to the Surface (Kvænangen, Troms County, Norway) shows an adult orca supporting the body of a calf in a freezing fjord. Pietro Rojas’ The Show Goes On (Doha, Qatar), recognized in Photojournalism, confronts a stark scene: a muzzled brown bear, secured to a small motorcycle, circling a circus ring. “Many countries have banned the use of wild animals in circuses,” says a statement. “Where brown bears are used, they often are trained to perform in unnatural postures like standing upright for long periods of time, contributing to health and behavioural problems.”
Elsewhere, moments unfold at split-second speed. Jens Cullmann’s Split-Second Escape (Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana), in Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles, captures an African bullfrog lunging for an African babul butterfly—and missing. Bence Máté’s Flock of Gold (Ashnil Aruba Lodge, Tsavo East National Park, Kenya), in Behaviour: Birds, follows a flock descending to drink at a pond, while Shane Gross’s Calm Amid the Storm (D’Arros Island, Seychelles), in Oceans: The Bigger Picture, observes a school of bigeye trevally swirling in rising light as a storm approaches.
Urban proximity and minute marvels also appear: Jack Crockford’s The Art of Flying (London, England), in 15-17 Years, frames a low-flying swift whose silhouette echoes an incoming plane to Heathrow Airport. Gil Wizen’s Hidden Dragon (Wildsumaco Biological Station, Napo Province, Ecuador), in Behaviour: Invertebrates, isolates a lichen dragon katydid on a plant, and Andrea and Maceo Grammatico’s Biting Back (Sierpe, South Puntarenas, Costa Rica), in Animal Portraits, records a mosquito drinking a venomous viper’s blood.
What’s next
Winners are slated to be announced on October 13. The exhibition runs from October 16 to July 11, 2027, at London’s Natural History Museum. Hundreds of photographs from past years are available in an online gallery.
Taken together, the shortlist’s scenes—oceanic, arctic, terrestrial, and urban—offer a concentrated look at wildlife and the ways we see it.
