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A dancing stoat , a jaguar ’s killing blow to a caiman and a colourful David Bowie spider are among the stalker peek of arresting images selected by this yr ’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year panel .
For 2024 ’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year challenger , which is celebrating its 60th anniversary , London ’s Natural chronicle Museumdrew a book - break 59,228 unveiling from photographers of all ages across 117 countries .
A jaguar clamping down on a caiman in Brazil is one of the images highly commended by award judges.
The images were anonymously judged by a instrument panel found on their creativity , originality and technical excellence , fit in to the competition organizers .
The winner in each category will be announced on Oct. 8 , and 100 of the competition ’s best pic will be exhibited at London ’s Natural History Museum from Oct. 11 .
Twist and jump
Jose Manual Grandío camped out in below - zero temperatures at Athose , in France ’s Bourgogne - Franche - Comté region , to capture this stoat leap into the line above fresh snowfall .
The display , which Grandío date as an " expression of exuberance , " splits scientists as to its motivations — with some saying it is an attempt to obscure prey and others saying it is the result of a parasitical contagion . yet , the demeanour is refer to as dancing .
Going with the floe
Tamara Stubbs was sailing on a nine - week expedition to Antarctica ’s Weddell Sea when she spotted these crabeater seal of approval napping beside her ship . These two — among some four million seals of their species in the Antarctic — had bobbed to the surface to take a deeper breath , their nostril crown poked above the water ’s open .
Hooked
Tommy Trenchard was travel on the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise in the South Atlantic Ocean when he snapped this blastoff of a dirge shark being catch accidentally by a ship fishing for swordfish and tuna . The shark , its trunk twirl in a final motion of defiance , is among 80 million sharks snatched from the existence ’s oceans each year — a practice which has caused shark population to plummet and place three - quarters of all shark mintage at risk of infection of extinction .
Moonlight Hunter
Xingchao Zhu give chase a chemical group of Pallas cats across the frozen plateau of Inner Mongolia during February 2023 ’s Chinese New Year to capture this pellet . take just before dawn , Xingchao ’s pellet shows a Pallas cat making eye contact as it abduct a small bird .
Ziggy Spider
Lam Soon Tak was trekking across the highlands of Malaysia when he encountered this David Bowie spider clinging to some broken outgrowth beside a river . Named by its discoverer and David Bowie fan Dr Peter Jäger in 2008 due to the Ziggy Stardust - like marking on its heading , the spider is clutching a bright white ballock theca in its jaws .
Deadly Bite
Ian Ford was in Brazil ’s Pantanal wetland when a call over the radio alarm him to a panther prowling the banks of a São Lourenço River tributary . Kneeling in his boat , Ford was at the perfect location to snap the crowing cat delivering a skull - shatter sting to the back of a yacare caiman ’s head .
In the Spotlight
Shreyovi Mehta was walking in Keoladeo National Park , India with her parents when she saw this scene . After go back to her pa to collect her camera and rest down on the ground , she bust this shot from a low slant — two peafowl that had exited the specter at the day ’s close to search for food in the clearing .
As Clear as Crystal
Jason Gulley was swim in Florida ’s Crystal River when he came upon this scene , a mother manatee floating in the flow with her calf , bubbles dog from its flippers .
Stormy Scene
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William Fortescue was in Tanzania ’s Serengeti National Park when he snapped this shaft — a female lion break off an attempt by a male lion to match with a warning from her powerful jaw . The backcloth of billowing storm clouds — brewing during the parking area ’s rainy time of year — adds to the brooding atmosphere of the view .
Wildlife Photography of the Year is developed and farm by the Natural History Museum , London