Using a macro lens, the photographer captured this shot of a buzzing ball of male cactus bees swarming around a single female. The bees were competing to mate with the female.
Location: South Texas
2. "Spectacled bear’s slim outlook" by Daniel Mideros, Ecuador | Winner, animals in their environment
Spectacle bears are found from western Venezuela to Bolivia. The photographer wanted to show the disappearing natural landscape with the bear framed at the heart of the image.
Location: Peñas Blancas, Quito, Ecuador
3. "Puff perfect" by José Juan Hernández Martinez, Spain | Winner, animal portraits
A male Canary Islands houbara raises his plume to perform a dazzling courtship display.
Location: La Oliva, Fuerteventura, Spain
4. "The listening bird" by Nick Kanakis, US | Winner, behavior: birds
This young grey-breasted wood wren is foraging for food in a patch of leaf litter. Here, the ground-dwelling bird can be seen pressing its ear to the ground to listen for small insects.
Location: Tatamá National Park, Risaralda, Colombia
5. "The great cliff chase" by Anand Nambiar, India | Winner, behavior: mammals
A snow leopard charges at a herd of Himalayan ibex towards a steep edge.
Location: Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary, Himachal Pradesh, India
6. "The bat-snatcher" by Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar | Mexico Winner, behavior: amphibians and reptiles
A Yucatan rat snake snaps up a bat in Mexico's Cave of the Hanging Snakes. Every evening at sundown, thousands of bats leave for the night’s feeding from this cave. It is also the time when hungry rat snakes emerge, waiting for an opportunity to grab a quick snack.
Location: Kantemo, Quintana Roo, Mexico
7. "Heavenly flamingos" by Junji Takasago, Japan | Winner, natural artistry
Japanese photographer Junji Takasago captured this dream-like scene in Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt pan and home to a large lithium mine.
Location: Salar de Uyuni, Daniel Campos Province, Bolivia
8. "New life for the Tohorā" by Richard Robinson, New Zealand | Winner, oceans: the bigger picture
Two southern right whales engage in an elaborate courtship dance before mating. Known by the Māori as tohorā, the New Zealand population of these whales was hunted to near extinction in the 1800s. Every calf, hence, offers new hope.
Location: Deas Head, Auckland Islands, New Zealand
9. "The magical morels" by Agorastos Papatsanis, Greece | Winner, plants and fungi
Stunning morels in a fairy-tale-like scene in the forests of Mount Olympus. Morels are spring mushrooms that can be found between March and June.
Location: Mount Olympus, Pieria, Greece
10. "Shooting star" by Tony Wu, US/Japan | Winner, underwater
The electrifying reproductive dance of a giant sea star. Starfish reproduce by spawning, during which they rise and dance to release millions of eggs and sperm into the water.
Location: Kinko Bay, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan
11. "House of bears" by Dmitry Kokh, Russia | Winner, urban wildlife
Two polar bears wander around a desolate house at the long-deserted settlement on Kolyuchin.
Location: Kolyuchin Island, Chukotka, Russia
12. "The dying lake" by Daniel Núñez, Guatemala | Winner, wetlands - the bigger picture
Using a drone, the photographer captured the contrast between the forest and the algal growth on Lake Amatitlán.
Location: Lake Amatitlán, Villa Canales, Guatemala
13. "Ndakasi’s passing" by Brent Stirton, South Africa | Winner, photojournalism
Ndakasi was a beloved mountain gorilla in the Senkwekwe Center, Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo. She was rescued as a two-month-old after her troop was massacred by a powerful charcoal mafia. Here, Ndakasi is seen spending some of her final moments in the arms of her rescuer and caregiver, Andre Bauma.
Location: Senkwekwe Center, Virunga National Park, the Democratic Republic of the Congo
14. "Battle stations" by Ekaterina Bee, Italy | Winner, 10 years and under
Two Alpine ibex spar for supremacy, trading blows while standing on their hind legs.
Location: Pian della Mussa, Piedmont, Italy
15. "The beauty of baleen" by Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn, Thailand | Winner, 15-17 years
A close-up shot of a Bryde's whale, showing its dark skin, pale pink gums, and a mass of baleen teeth. Bryde's whales have bristly baleen plates instead of teeth, which they use to filter, sift, sieve, or trap prey.
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