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Jaw - dropping images capturing the natural reality , including an maturate captive tiger as well as an elephant wading through plastic , have been revealed as the winner and runners - up of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation ’s 2025 Environmental Photography Award .

The annual picture taking competition is split into five family : Polar Wonders , Into the Forest , Ocean Worlds , Humanity versus Nature , and Change shaper : cause for Hope .

a tiger looks through a large animal�s ribcage

“Forest Guard,” by Bambang Wirawan, winner of the Student’s Choice Award.

A shot of marine worm pushing plumes of sand from the tops of their retinal cone - shaped burrows , enchant byAngel Fitorin Spain in 2023 , get ahead the Ocean Worlds category and the overall grand dirty money , the foundation announced Tuesday ( May 6 ) .

" These burrowing worm play a pivotal part in keep O and nutrient circulation in the upper layer of deposit on the Davy Jones’s locker , an activity that generates an entire ecosystem hidden under the substrate , " Fitor said ina statement . " On location , it was unimaginable to predict when the worms would be dynamic . This photo is the result of two months ' employment , with twenty dives of five hours each . "

" Unseen Unsung Heroes , " by Angel Fitor , winner of the Overall Grand Prize and victor of the Ocean Worlds class .

An underwater photograph of plumes of sand rising from the ocean floor

(Image credit: Angel Fitor)

" The Passenger , " by Pietro Formis , runner - up in the Ocean Worlds category .

" Portrait of a Leafy Seadragon , " by Daniel Sly , runner - up in the Ocean Worlds category .

base runner - up in this category included an icon of a tiny devilfish delicately balanced on top of Portuguese man-of-war - like animals named salps , snapped in the Philippines in 2024 byPietro Formis , and an eerie persona of a leafy sea dragon off the Australian slide , photographed byDaniel Slyin 2024 .

a tiny octopus balanced on top of a jellyfish-like animal

(Image credit: Pietro Formis)

The winning image in the Polar Wonders class was a spectacular slam of a lion ’s head of hair jellyfish . The photograph was accept off the coast of Greenland in 2019 byGalice Hoarau . " fall in the East Greenland fjords is teeming with lifetime , especially planktonic metal money ranging from bantam copepods to large man-of-war such as this social lion ’s head of hair Portuguese man-of-war ( Cyanea capillata ) with its long stinging tentacles drifting elegantly through the water , " Hoarau order in thestatement .

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A melting iceberg tramp in the Ethel Waters off Iceland , taken by Michaël Arzur in 2024 , and a battle between two distaff musk kine ( Ovibos moschatus ) in Norway , flick byMiquel Angel Artús Illanain 2021 , were name blue runner - up in this category .

a dramatically lit underwater photo of a leafy seadragon

(Image credit: Daniel Sly)

" Jellyfish and Iceberg , " by Galice Hoarau , winner in the Polar Wonders category .

" Ephemeral , " by Michaël Arzur , moon curser - up in the Polar Wonders family .

" Female Fight , " by Miquel Angel Artús Illana , runner - up in the Polar Wonders category .

a photo of a colorful jellyfish swimming past an iceberg

(Image credit: Galice Hoarau)

A photo capturing a fierce engagement between two manly hart beetles , taken byIacopo Nerozziin Italy in 2022 , win the Into the Forest category .

" During the mating time of year , male hart beetles ( Lucanus cervus ) go into a frenzy , with lively but harmless clashes , in which bigger males often have the advantage over small ones due to their impressive mandibles , " Nerozzi say in thestatement .

David Herasimtschuk ’s image of an adult and several juvenile cohoe salmon ( Oncorhynchus kisutch ) , taken in the U.S. Pacific Northwest in 2023 , andSantiago J. Monroy García ’s photo of an Andean bear ( Tremarctos ornatus ) lurking in the Colombian forest , captured in 2023 , were named runner - up .

A dramatically lit photo of a glacier

(Image credit: Michaël Arzur)

" Clash of Kings , " by Iacopo Nerozzi , winner in the Into the Forest category .

" Coho Salmon in a Log Structure , " by David Herasimtschuk , runner - up in the Into the Forest category .

" God in the vestige , " by Santiago J. Monroy García , runner - up in the Into the Forest category .

two bison fight

(Image credit: Miquel Angel Artús Illana)

In the Humanity versus Nature category , the victor was a film taken byAmy Jonesin 2023 . It shows an elderly female Indo - Formosan Panthera tigris ( Panthera tigris corbetti)named Salamas on a tiger farm in northern Thailand . " For over 20 age , she was confined in this cage and used as a breeding motorcar , acquire cub for industries crop from tiger touristry to the illegal trade in skins , tooth , bones , claw and heart , " Jones said in thestatement . " Despite her frail and haggard precondition , Salamas survived the 12 - 60 minutes journey to their 17 - acre tiger sanctuary forest , where she was able to cast freely and receive grass beneath her manus and the warmth of the Dominicus on her fur for the first time in two decades . unluckily , Salamas go nine month after being deliver . "

An image of an Asiatic elephant ( Elephas maximus ) wading through a soup of fictile waste in Sri Lanka , demand byLakshitha Karunarathnain 2023 , and a picture of rattlesnakes throng up in a pit in Texas , necessitate by Javier Aznar in 2020 , were the runners - up .

" Breeding motorcar , " by Amy Jones , winner in the Humanity versus Nature family .

Two large beetles fight in mid-air

(Image credit: Iacopo Nerozzi)

" camouflage in the Garbage Dump , " by Lakshitha Karunarathna , contrabandist - up in the Humanity versus Nature category .

" No atmosphere in the Pit , " by Javier Aznar , runner - up in the Humanity versus Nature category .

The achiever of the Change Makers : reason for Hope category was an figure of a babe dunce sea turtleneck ( Caretta caretta ) that Fitor took in a convalescence center in Spain in 2022 . The runners - up were two images of rehabilitate armadillo and anteater , both byFernando Faciole .

a salmon nestled in an underwater log structure

(Image credit: David Herasimtschuk)

Faciole ’s mental image of a South American tapir ( Tapirus terrestris ) recovering from severe burn injury in Brazil in 2024 acquire the Public Award , while the Student ’s Choice Award achiever was Bambang Wirawan ’s photograph of a Sumatran Panthera tigris ( Panthera Tigris River sumatrae ) in Indonesia , shoot from inside the bloody costa cage of its prey .

" Training Day , " by Angel Fitor , winner in the Change Makers : Reasons for Hope class .

" handle for the Unseen Giants , by Fernando Faciole , runner - up in the Change Makers : Reasons for Hope category .

a black bear emerges from a shadowy forest

(Image credit: Santiago J. Monroy García)

" Little Giant ’s manner of walking , " by Fernando Faciole , runner - up in the Change Makers : Reasons for Hope category .

" After the Flames , Hope , " by Fernando Faciole , victor of the Public Award .

— Beginner ’s guide to wildlife photography

An emaciated tiger presses their head against the wall of their enclosure

(Image credit: Amy Jones)

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" visualise immediate conversation and consideration of how we can protect and treasure these irreplaceable environments across the planet . They cut through apathy , capture reality , evoke empathy , and ignite action,“Ami Vitale , a National Geographic photographer and documentary movie maker and president of the award ' panel , tell in the statement . " Through this ocular spiritualist , we reconnect people with nature , highlighting not only the perils but also the promise and the hope that exists all around us . "

a bird’s eye view of an elephant in a dump of plastic waste

(Image credit: Lakshitha Karunarathna)

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children look in through windows to a pit full of snakes

(Image credit: Javier Aznar)

baby sea turtles swim in their enclosure

(Image credit: Angel Fitor)

a man holds an armadillo’s foot

(Image credit: Fernando Faciole)

an anteater with bandaged feet runs behind a caretaker

(Image credit: Fernando Faciole)

a tapir with bandaged feet plays in its enclosure

(Image credit: Fernando Faciole)

Eye spots on the outer hindwings of a giant owl butterfly (Caligo idomeneus).

Screenshot from a video of a family of four snow leopards prowling through the snow in the mountains of northern Pakistan.

a wispy white spiral galaxy seen in front of hundreds of background stars

Wild and Free Running Wolves in Yellowstone National Park, USA.

A female polar bear and two cubs lie in the snow surrounded by scrubby plants.

a split-panel image of "de-extincted dire wolves" and a touchable hologram

a reconstruction of an early reptile

a hoatzin bird leaping in the air with blue sky background

Two young lions (Panthera leo) in the Masai Mara National Park in Kenya.

Closeup of an Asian needle ant worker carrying prey in its mouth on a wooden surface.

Photo shows an egg hatching out of a �genital pore� in a snail�s neck.

side-by-side images of a baboon and a gorilla

Fragment of a stone with relief carving in the ground

An illustration of microbiota in the gut

an illustration of DNA

images showing auroras on Jupiter

An image of the Eagle Nebula, a cluster of young stars.