Britain’s Natural History Museum, which runs the competition, will announce the winning images on October 14, followed by an exhibition showcasing 100 standout photos on October 17.
Ahead of the event, the museum has released a handful of this year’s top submissions. These images have been selected from a record-breaking 60,000 entries from 113 countries and territories by an international jury of experts across wildlife photography, filmmaking, conservation and science.
A dramatic stand-off between a lion and a cobra in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Photo: Gabriella Comi
Among them is a picture of a wasp taken by macro wildlife photographer Bidyut Kalita. It appears to show the wasp flying on a makeshift broomstick, but in reality it is carrying a caterpillar to feed its young.
The submission was highly commended in the Behaviour: Invertebrates category.
Another stunning photo, from Amit Eshel, entitled “Inside the Pack”, is an eye-level shot with an inquisitive Arctic wolf pack. It shows five wolves on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, in Canada, one of which are just metres from the camera.
Eshel braved -35C weather to get the shot. He said the wolves came so close he could smell their breath.
A photo taken by Gabriella Comi, entitled “Wake-up Call”, shows the moment a lion squares up to a cobra in the scorching midday sun in Serengeti National Park. The cobra had been spotted earlier, slithering towards two napping lions.
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Fruit bats leave their roost in the ruins of a historical monument in Banda, Maharashtra, India. Photo: Sitaram Raul
Deep in the darkness of a cave in south-west India, just below Mumbai, photographer Sitaram Raul managed to capture one of this year’s most astonishing competition submissions.
He stood in the darkness as fruit bats emerged from a ruin. Using focus and flash, standing beneath the swooping bats, he managed to capture remarkable shots of the creatures in mid-flight.
Last year’s competition was won by Canadian photographer Shane Gross for his snapshot of a swarm of western toad tadpoles as they glided beneath a canopy of lily pads in Cedar Lake, Canada.
“To me, the most fun that I can have, the thing that lights me up inside, is to see something new and try to photograph it in the best way I possibly can,” Gross told BBC News at the time.