A spectacular camera trap image of a snow leopard at sunset, perfectly posed against the mountains of Ladakh in northern India, has been voted as the winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award.
World of the snow leopard by Sascha Fonseca, Germany. Against a backdrop of the spectacular mountains of Ladakh in northern India, a snow leopard has been caught in a perfect pose by Sascha’s carefully positioned camera trap. Thick snow blankets the ground, but the big cat’s dense coat and furry footpads keep it warm. Sascha captured this image during a three-year bait-free camera-trap project high up in the Indian Himalayas. He has always been fascinated by snow leopards, not only because of their incredible stealth but also because of their remote environment, making them one of the most difficult large cats to photograph in the wild.
With an estimate of only 6,500 adults living in the wild, the big cats face the threats of poaching, habitat loss and human-animal conflict.
A record 60,466 nature photography fans voted, with German photographer Sascha Fonseca’s ‘World of the snow leopard’ emerging as the firm favourite.
Fonseca's image was selected from a shortlist of 25 images that were chosen by the Natural History Museum from nearly 39,000 images that were submitted for the fifty-eighth competition.
Four Highly Commended finalists also shared in the accolades, with ‘Holding on’ by Igor Altuna, a dramatic image of a leopard carrying a dead monkey and its baby, and ‘Fox affection’ by Brittany Crossman, showing red foxes greeting one another with an affectionate nuzzle joining Martin Gregus’s ‘Among the flowers’, and Marina Cano’s ‘Portrait of Olobor’ to round out the awards for 2023.
Holding on by Igor Altuna, Spain. This leopardess had killed a Kinda baboon in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park. The baboon’s baby was still alive and clinging to its mother. Igor watched as the predator walked calmly back to her own baby. Her cub played with the baby baboon for more than an hour before killing it, almost as if it had been given live prey as a hunting lesson.Fox affection by Brittany Crossman, Canada. On a chilly day in North Shore on Prince Edward Island, Canada, a pair of red foxes, greet one another with an intimate nuzzle. The red fox’s mating season is in the winter, and it is not uncommon to see them together prior to denning. This special moment is one of Brittany’s favourite images and one of the tenderest moments she has witnessed between adult foxes.Among the flowers by Martin Gregus, Canada Martin watched this polar bear cub playing in a mass of fireweed on the coast of Hudson Bay, Canada. Every so often the cub would take a break from its fun, stand on its hind legs and poke its head up above the high flowers to look for its mother.Portrait of Olobor by Marina Cano, Spain. It was late afternoon when Marina found Olobor resting. He is one of the famous five-strong coalition of males in the Black Rock pride in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve. All around the lion, the ground was black, having been burnt by local Maasai herdsmen to stimulate a new flush of grass. Marina wanted to capture his majestic and defiant look against the dark background and lowered her camera out of her vehicle to get an eye-level portrait
The overall winner of the 2022 Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Big Buzz by Karine Aigner, USA. A group of bees compete to mate. Using a macro lens, Karine captured the flurry of activity as a buzzing ball of cactus bees spun over the hot sand. After a few minutes, the pair at its centre – a male clinging to the only female in the scrum – flew away to mate. The world’s bees are under threat from habitat loss, pesticides and climate change. With 70% of bee species nesting underground, it is increasingly important that areas of natural soil are left undisturbed. Location: South Texas, USA. Sony α7R III + Laowa 24mm f14 2x macro probe lens; 1/1000 sec; ISO 6400; Profoto strobe + wireless trigger.
