Wildlife Photographer of the Year: See 2025’s winning images
South African wildlife photographer Wim van den Heever has been announced as Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 for his powerful image, ‘Ghost Town Visitor’.
Captured by South African photographer Wim van den Heever this image claimed the grand prize of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year and was awarded the winner in the Urban Wildlife category. With sea fog rolling in from the Atlantic Ocean, the photographer chose this spot for his camera trap after noticing hyena tracks nearby. ‘It took me 10 years to finally get this one single image of a brown hyena, in the most perfect frame imaginable.’ The rarest hyena species in the world, brown hyenas are nocturnal and mostly solitary. They are known to pass through Kolmanskop on their way to hunt Cape fur seal pups or scavenge for carrion washed ashore along the Namib Desert coast. Picture: Wim van den Heever
Selected from a record-breaking 60,636 entries from 113 countries and territories, the category and overall winners of the world’s leading wildlife photography competition, Wildlife Photographer of the Year, run by the Natural History Museum, London, were revealed at an awards ceremony this week.
Here we bring you a selection of some of the highlights.
Pictures courtesy of Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Winner in the Oceans: The Bigger Picture category. The photographer managed to photograph this chaotic scene of gulls attempting to catch fish trapped by nets. The gulls have learnt to follow the sound of the boats to find a herring feast. Through his work, Audun aims to draw attention to the ongoing conflict between seabirds and the fishing industry. Photographed at Kvaenangen Fjord, Skjervoy, Norway. Picture: Audun RikardsenWinner in the Behaviour: Invertebrates category. The photographer had been looking out for this caterpillar for years when she noticed eucalyptus trees bearing skeletonised leaves, telltale signs that the animal had been grazing. She took this image backlit by the setting sun, using a fill-in flash to illuminate the living head at the base of the stack. This caterpillar’s unusual headgear is made up of old head capsules, each retained with every moult. The resulting tower is believed to help deflect attacks by predators. Picture: Georgina SteytlerThis image forms part of a series of images that was awarded the Photojournalist Story Award. For centuries, rattlesnakes have been viewed in vastly different ways across the American continent – from reverence and respect to fear and suspicion. Annual rattlesnake round-ups, where hunters compete to collect the highest weight of snakes, began in the 1930s. Today, these competitions are losing their appeal, but in some states, anti-rattlesnake sentiment remains strong. In this portfolio, Javier calls for respect and protection for these creatures before they disappear from the American landscape. Picture: Javier Aznar González de RuedaWinner in the Behaviour: Mammals category. The photographer had been keeping an eye out for wild cats such as servals for several days when a call came over the radio: one had been seen at Ndutu Lake. But it wasn’t a serval. It was a caracal, successfully hunting wading lesser flamingos. Caracals have a varied diet, from insects to antelope, and are renowned for the acrobatic leaps they make to snatch birds from the air. But there are few, if any, records of them hunting flamingos. Picture: Dennis StogsdillWinner in the Animals in their Environment category. Peppered moray eels are well adapted to the intertidal zone. They can hunt both above and below the water’s surface using their keen senses of smell and sight, sometimes staying out of water for more than 30 seconds. This photograph was catpured at D’Arros Island, Amirante, Seychelles. Picture: Shane GrossWinner in the Behaviour: Birds category. The photographer was at Yundang Lake near his home, a place he visits regularly to photograph the feeding frenzies: little egrets patrol the surface, ready to pounce on fish leaping to escape underwater predators. Picture: Qingrong YangWinner of the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year. The photographer noticed this longhorn beetle while walking in the Lepini Mountains of central Italy, in an area once logged for old beech trees. The photograph tells a poignant story of habitat loss. As longhorn beetles tunnel into dead wood, fungi make their way inside, helping to break it down and recycle nutrients. If the beetles’ habitat is disturbed or destroyed, the effects ripple across the entire ecosystem. Picture: Andrea DominiziThis image was awarded the Impact Award, and was also Highly Commended in the Photojournalism category. Here an orphaned giant anteater pup follows its caregiver after an evening feed at a rehabilitation centre in Belo Horizonte, in Brazil. This pup’s mother was killed by a vehicle, and the hope is that it will be released back into the wild after being encouraged to develop crucial survival skills by its caregiver. Picture: Fernando FacioleThis image forms part of a series that won the Rising Star award. The photographer explores his passion for the natural world by viewing it through an artistic lens. This image is a rotated reflection of a red-throated diver captured on the outskirts of Berlin. Picture: Luca LorenzWinner in the 11 to 14 year-old category. The photographer spotted the Alpine ibex resting above a sea of clouds during an early morning ascent. As the mist rose and the sun broke over the crags, he retraced his steps to capture this ethereal moment before fog thickened and the light faded. Native to Europe, the species was hunted close to extinction in the early 1800s. Thanks to protection and reintroduction efforts, ibex now roam large areas of the Alps. Picture: Lubin GodinWinner in the Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles category. In persistent rain, the photographer followed a flooded path to a temporary pool in a forest clearing. He framed this scene with a wide-angle lens and used a diffused flash, which didn’t disturb the frogs, to highlight their metallic sheen. Photographed at Kaw Mountain, French Guiana. Picture: Quentin Martinez
