From a viper with a bloodthirsty hitchhiker to a bullfrog narrowly missing its lunch, these photographs, all of which are in the running for this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, offer a glimpse into the drama unfolding across the animal kingdom.
Biting Back, an intimidating shot captured by Andrea and Maceo Grammatico, was highly commended in the contest’s Animal Portraits category. The twins say it wasn’t until reviewing their photographs that they spotted a mosquito drinking from the head of the fer-de-lance – the most dangerous snake in Central America.
There was a near miss in Jens Cullmann’s Split-Second Escape, highly commended in the Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles category and shown in the main image. The moment was almost as fleeting as the frog’s prey – an African babul blue butterfly – and all the more remarkable given that Cullmann had spotted tadpoles a month earlier, returning to find them transformed into young bullfrogs. African bullfrogs spend much of the year underground in an inactive state known as aestivation, emerging only for a short period after the rainy season to breed, hunt and gorge.
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Hiding not hunting is the speciality of the lichen dragon katydid captured by Gil Wizen, below. Named Hidden Dragon, Wizen’s shot, highly commended in the Behaviour: Invertebrates category, captures the almost perfectly camouflaged, 15-millimetre-long, spiky insect – a rare species found only in the Ecuadorian Andes mountains.
Moving away from rural environments, Pooltime Pastime by Loren Elliott, below, was highly commended in the Urban Wildlife category. Elliott captures the unusual sight of a black bear taking time to chill in a swimming pool in southern California. While the bear may look somewhat out of place, these run-ins are becoming surprisingly common as housing developments continue to encroach on bear territory.
Finally, a black vulture grasps the carcass of a yacare caiman in Andrew Parkinson’s Wings of Darkness, below, captured in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands and also highly commended in the Animal Portraits category. Despite a seemingly firm grip, the scavenger’s meal wasn’t to be, with a jaguar waiting just out of shot for the perfect opportunity to claim the caiman.
The competition’s overall winner will be announced on 13 October. The Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest is organised by London’s Natural History Museum, which will run an exhibition of the images from 16 October to 11 July 2027.