A rescued tapir with burns ro all four legs and ears among
The best wildlife photography grabs your attention and tells a story. Some of the best photographers capture the essence of our beautiful yet fragile planet. But what makes them tick?
Every year, WildPhotos brings together some of the best wildlife photographers from around the world to share their fascinating insights and stories behind the most iconic wildlife photography.
This year, the event will be taking place at the British Library, London, United Kingdom, on 17 October. Topics will include a panel discussion on why conservation photography is so important, and an exploration of what it means to photograph wildlife in your own backyard.
In our gallery, we feature a collection of 13 stunning images from this year's speakers, including the headline acts of Karine Aigner and David Doubilet.
A leopard emerges into the light of the human settlement at Aarey Milk Colony within the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), Mumbai, India. The Aarey Milk Colony is one of the last green spaces in the city of Mumbai, and forms a buffer between the city and the SGNP. This camera trap image demonstrates how leopards and humans can cohabitate and coexist in this incredibly dense urban area. Photo by Nayan Khanolkar
A coronet fish follows a wrasse through a vast colony of garden eels off Dumaguete, Philippines. The extremely shy and elusive garden eels vanish into the substrate the moment they detect a potential predator. This image required a remote camera to capture the eels relaxed, fully extended and feeding on plankton in the current. Photo by David Doubilet
Javier Aznar - Rattlesnake roundup
Young volunteer Kaydence Matschek skins a western diamondback rattlesnake in the skinning pit during the 2020 Rattlesnake Roundup at the Nolan County Coliseum in Sweetwater, Texas, USA. After decapitating the snakes with a machete, they were tied by their tails and skinned by volunteers and paying individuals. Blood and a foul odour permeated the air, making the scene even more horrifying. Photo by Javier Aznar
Karine Aigner - The big buzz
A group of bees compete to mate in this amazing macro image. Underneath this buzzing ball of males is one lone female. Photo by Karine Aigner
Rachel Bigsby - The art of courtship
A pair of gannets pictured on the rocks of the Isle of Noss, Shetland, Scotland, UK. Each year, over 22,000 northern gannets like these return to the Shetland Islands to breed. Photo by Rachel Bigsby
Off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, four species of sharks, yellowfin tuna and rainbow runners work a small section of a mega bait ball. Working in unison, with the help of dolphins, large predators can herd schools of bait at the surface. Large aggregations of top predators are becoming increasingly rare due to large fishing fleets targeting them for human consumption and the shark fin soup trade. Although places like the Revillagigedo Archipelago are protected, foreign fleets continue to 'fish the line' of the sanctuary border when these species begin to migrate. Photo by Ralph Pace
Anthony Ochieng Onyango - The Gentle Giants of Lake Jipe
A fisherman in Lake Jipe walks past an elephant peacefully as he fishes in Lake Jipe, Kenya. This is everyday coexistence built on mutual respect. Photo by Anthony Ochieng Onyango
A young grey reef shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) is seen at the surface being hooked by an angler during the night in the open sea at Burma Bank, an offshore plateau in the Andaman Sea off the coast of Tanintharyi region, Myanmar, 2 March 2023. The angler later released the shark, a fate that is rarely shared by other sharks in these heavily exploited waters, where the populations of most shark species in the Andaman Sea have drastically declined in the past few decades. Photo by Sirachai 'Shin' Arunrugstichai
Chein Lee - Newly hatched red stink bugs
Newly hatched red stink bugs (Pycanum rubens) cluster together to amplify the effect of their aposematic warning colouration. Sarawak, Malaysia (Borneo). Photo by Chein Lee
Fernando Faciole - After the Flames, Hope
A tapir, nicknamed Valente, was rescued with all four legs and ears burned and unable to move. The roughly one-year-old male was saved by the Onçafari project team on the Caiman property. The animal is now undergoing intensive treatment to heal its injuries and return to the wild. Photo by Fernando Faciole
A Caribbean flamingo affectionately known as Bob swims in the sea surrounding the island of Curaçao. Bob was rescued after hitting a hotel window and could not be released back into the wild. He has become a local celebrity in Curaçao and an ambassador for environmental awareness. Photo by Jasper Doest
A still from a video which documents the pursuit of Satyrus effendi, an endemic butterfly species named in honor of the photographer's father (not the butterfly featured in this image). Satyrus effendi is a highly endangered, somewhat stubborn and elusive creature, which can be found in one place only: flying over the high altitude mountainous border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Photo by Rena Effendi
Melissa Groo - Star-crossed lovers
A pair of scarlet tanagers (Piranga olivacea) lie dead next to each other after hitting a glass door in upstate New York, USA. It is thought that the male (red) was chasing the female (yellow) in an attempt to mate. The photographer posed them in this way to pay tribute to them and to highlight how we can prevent bird deaths by making windows safer. Photo by Melissa Groo
Group visual editor for BBC Wildlife, BBC Countryfile and BBC Science Focus
James Cutmore is the Group Visual Editor from BBC Wildlife, BBC Countryfile and BBC Science Focus Magazine. He has worked as a picture editor for over two decades, telling compelling science and nature stories through the use of striking imagery.
