These are the best wildlife photos of the year

Every year, the most impressive and eye-catching photographs of wild animals receive an award in the “Wildlife Photographer of the Year” awards. The competition is run by the Natural History Museum in London. This time, the jury evaluated 38,575 images from 93 countries – more than ever before. They submitted a variety of photos. American photographer Karine Aigner won the main prize. He managed to catch male cactus bees fighting to fertilize a female.

big buzz

For the close-up, Aigner used a macro lens to get close to a swarm of cactus bees on a Texas farm. He discovered the animals because of the volcano-like towers in the sand. Because as soon as the cacti begin to bloom in the spring, mating females gather in a flat sandy area to dig nests for the eggs.

Like most bee species, cactus bees are threatened by habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change. “It helps shed light on bees, one of nature’s most important creatures,” said wildlife filmmaker and jury member Sugandhi Gadadhar of the winning image.

beauty of the bale

Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn (16) from Thailand won the main prize for young photographers aged 15-17. He photographed a Bryde whale about to eat a small fish in the Gulf of Thailand. The whale filters small prey with 370 hairy fibers made of keratin, called whale plates. Wuttichaitanakorn sailed in a boat and had to keep his hands steady for this close-up.

bat thief

This shot was taken by Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar from Mexico: A Yucatan rat snake crashes into a bat. Using a red light to which both bats and snakes are less sensitive, the photographer kept an eye on the snake peeking out through a crack. He only had a few seconds to make the shot, and just as the snake jumped in midair onto the bat, it broke him.

bears house

Dmitry Kokh from Russia took this photo of polar bears wandering between buildings in his long-abandoned settlement on the Russian island of Kolyuchin. He saw the animals while traveling on a yacht to shelter from the storm. While the bears were probing windows and doors, Kokh used a drone to capture this post-apocalyptic image.

falling star

What looks like a sea monster in a sci-fi movie is a giant starfish doing a mating dance. He was caught by Tony Wu, who spent more time searching for rare sea creatures than on land. The photographer was in Kagoshima Bay off the coast of Japan when he saw the starfish. The dance movements of male and female starfish push eggs and sperm upstream where they are fertilized.

Nadaksi’s passing

South African photographer Brent Stirton photographed the 2007 rescue of female gorilla Ndakasi, when her gorilla friends were killed by a powerful coal mob. In this image, she captures her last hours before she dies as her savior and guard lies in the arms of ranger Andre Bauma.

the perfect puff

José Juan Hernández Martínez from Spain photographed a Canary Houbaras during a courtship dance in Fuerteventura. The photographer looked for a place to hide at night. From there he was able to capture the full, inflated profile of the bird in daylight.