The winners of the prestigious Nature TTL Photographer of the Year Competition 2021 have just been unveiled, with a mind-bending orang-utan image taking the grand prize.
In total, photographers competed amongst 8 different competition categories celebrating the natural world: Animal Behaviour, Camera Traps, Landscapes, Small World, The Night Sky, Underwater, Urban Wildlife, and Wild Portraits.
We bring you our favourites from a huge and impressive selection.
Highly commended – Animal behaviour
Wild dog (Lycaon pictus) pups play in the dust seen rising from the bone dry soil. The photographer tracked them for five weeks, and took images of them in some fascinating situations in South Africa. Photo by Bence Máté/Nature TTL
Highly commended – Underwater
A young Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) plays with a starfish at Norris Rocks off Hornby Island, Canada. Sadly, Steller sea lions are listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. Photo by Celia Kujala/Nature TTL
Winner – Landscapes
The shadow of an ancient camel thorn tree reaches out towards a delta of the Tsauchab river, Namibia. Photo by Jay Roode/Nature TTL
Highly commended – Animal behaviour
A female crimson sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja) is seen refreshing herself with the water which is stored in the petal of an ornamental banana flower, photographed in India. This is showing a very rare behaviour, and is as if nature creates a floral bath tub for her. Photo by Mousam Ray/Nature TTL
Winner – Wild portraits
A rather photogenic polar bear (Ursus maritimus) takes a nap on the snow in Svalbard, Norway. Photo by Dennis Stogsdill/NatureTTL
Runner-up – Urban wildlife
An Arabian red fox kitten (Vulpes vulpes arabica) explores the night just outside its den, in an area of Kuwait City near to the shore called Doha, Kuwait. Photo by Mohammad Murad/NatureTTL
Runner-up – Animal behaviour
A crocodile (Crocodylinae) snaps up a rather surprised fish in this great snapshot, taken in South Africa. Photo by Johan Wandrag/NatureTTL
Highly commended – Small world
An acorn weevil (Curculio glandium) spreading its wings, ready to take off. Photo by Christian Brockes/NatureTTL
Overall winner
A Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) climbs up a tree towards the photographer in Borneo. The water below formed a mirror, making the image look upside-down. This is a regular path for the orangutans to use, but the photographer had to be patient in order to get this shot. Photo by Thomas Vijayan/NatureTTL
If you are enjoying this gallery, why not take a look at some of our other great images:
Winner – The night sky
A rare type of aurora over an alpine lake in northern Sweden, far from any disturbing light pollution. Photo by Marcus Westberg/NatureTTL
Highly commended – Wild portraits
The elusive Pallas’s cat (Otocolobus manul) photographed in the Mongolian steppe. The elusive cat is shown here out in the open hunting in early morning during a blizzard covering it with a white blanket of snow and making it almost invisible. Photo by Amit Eshel/NatureTTL
Highly commended – Urban wildlife
A family of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) were regularly passing through the photographer’s garden using a gap in the fence as a passageway. It was the perfect opportunity for him to set up a camera trap to capture some images. After weeks of trying, he managed to capture this intimate photo of a vixen and her cub. Photo by Thomas Cawdron/NatureTTL
Runner-up – Small world
Juvenile spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) trapped by northern pitcher plants as they make their autumn migration from aquatic hatching grounds to wintering sites beneath the forest floor. This is the first discovery of salamanders being regularly caught by northern pitcher plants (Sarracenia purpurea). Photo by Samantha Stephens/NatureTTL
Winner – Under 16
A starling murmuration is threatened when a peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) swoops in to attack the group, in this dramatic image. Photo by Thomas Easterbrook/NatureTTL
Highly commended – Small world
The bee wolf (Philanthus triangulum) is a solitary wasp, and predates on honeybees. In this image, you can see the wasp carrying away its unfortunate prey. Photo by Simon Jenkins/NatureTTL
Highly commended – Animal behaviour
A blue morph Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) struggles in gale force winds, sub-zero temperatures and heavy snow, and makes hunting very tough for this individual. Photo by David Gibbon/NatureTTL
Highly commended – Landscapes
Sand patterns seen from above on the Baltray in Ireland, with little terns (Sternula albifrons) nesting right on the beach. The terns are Ireland’s rarest breeding sea birds. They tend to nest on the beaches and are extremely noisy in the breeding season. Photo by Marek Biegalski/NatureTTL
Highly commended – Small world
A semi-transparent spider begins to weave its new web after shedding its old skin. Photo by Ben Nicholson/NatureTTL
Highly commended – Landscapes
Picturesque and fertile landscape in the rolling fields of southern Moravia, Czech Republic. Photo by Zdeněk Vošický/NatureTTL
Winner – Underwater
Manta rays like this like this reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) are filter feeders, sustaining their huge size by consuming large amounts of plankton and small crustaceans, like krill. The Maldives is one of the only places in the world where you can dive with these majestic animals at night time. Photo by Grant Thomas/NatureTTL
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