Cheesed off? Photographer captures two mice fighting on a Tube platform to become the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Advertisement
From mice having a tiny tussle on a Tube platform to an Orangutan resting at ringside, these are the highlights of the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
Raging rodents on the London Underground won the annual contest, as Sam Rowley’s ‘Station Squabble’ captured a split-second spat over scraps of food.
It came out on top after 48,000 photographs of animals were this year submitted to the competition, with only 25 making the final shortlist of commended images.
The panel of judges said: ‘Sam discovered the best way to photograph the mice inhabiting London’s Underground was to lie on the platform and wait.
‘He only saw them fight over scraps of food dropped by passengers a few times, possibly because it is so abundant. This fight lasted a split second, before one grabbed a crumb and they went their separate ways.’
Another entry entitled ‘Losing the Fight’ was among the most highly commended, as Aaron Gekowksi showed an Orangutan in boxing attire at Bangkok’s Safari World.
Other stunning images show snow white Arctic reindeer camouflaged against the snow and a jaguar carrying an anaconda with her cub.
Pictured: ‘Station Squabble’ by Sam Rowley which shows mice fighting inside a London Underground station and has been crowned the winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition after the photographer lay on the platform floor waiting for rodents to capture
Pictured: Aaron Gekoski’s ‘Losing the Fight’ which features an orangutan dressed in boxing attire next to a ring in Safari World, Bangkok. The competition’s panel said: ‘Orangutans have been used in degrading performances at Safari World, Bangkok – and many other locations – for decades. The shows were temporarily stopped in 2004 due to international pressure, but today the shows continue – twice a day, every day – with hundreds of people paying to watch the orangutans box, dance, play the drums and more.’
Pictured: ‘Matching Outfits’ by Michel Zoghzoghi, who captured the jaguar and her cub holding anaconda in Pantanal, Brazil. The competition organisers said of the shot: ‘Michel was in the Pantanal, Brazil photographing jaguars. One afternoon, as he was on the Tres Irmaos River, a mother and her cub crossed right in front of his boat. He watched mesmerized as they left the water holding an anaconda with a very similar pattern to their own.’
Pictured: ‘The Surrogate Mother’ by Martin Buzora which shows ranger Elias Mugambi with an orphaned black rhino named Kitui at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in northern Kenya. The panel of judges said: ‘Elias Mugambi is a ranger at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in northern Kenya. He often spends weeks away from his family caring for orphaned black rhinos like Kitui here. The young rhinos are in the sanctuary as a result of poaching or because their mothers are blind and cannot care for them safely in the wild.’
Pictured: ‘Spot the Reindeer’ by Francis De Andres, which shows white arctic reindeer at the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard. The conditions for photographing at the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard are extreme, but wildlife has adapted to the environment and its freezing temperatures. Francis found this composition of white arctic reindeer, which were observing him, both curious and charming