'Heartbreaking' image of elephant with dead calf wins Wildlife Photographer contest
Wildlife Photographer of the Year entries will be on display this week at London's Natural History Museum.
A “heartbreakingly poignant” image described as a "gut-punch" of a female elephant carrying a dead calf has won this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
The black and white image by Italian photographer Federico, which he captured when he caught up with a family group of elephants in the Huab River Valley in Namibia, was chosen from a record-breaking 65,403 entries to the annual contest from 121 countries and territories.
The shot of the calf wedged between the elephant’s tusk and trunk shows behaviour around death that has been observed in both African and Asian elephants, which experts suggest could indicate elephants’ journeys to understanding death or possible displays of grief.
Kathy Moran, chair of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year jury, said the winning photograph “says it all”.
“This photograph works on so many levels,” she said.
“Emotionally it’s a gut punch, heartbreakingly poignant. Intellectually it’s proof that animals have cognition.”
A black and white shot – of a dung beetle pushing a ball of dung – also scooped the top prize for the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, which was won by Oscar Whitfield, a young British photographer living in Zimbabwe who was 14 when he took the picture.
Jasper Doest, jury member for the 62nd Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, said the image was “exceptionally well done”.
He added: “Photographing such a small, constantly moving subject is challenging, yet the image feels so intentional.
“The composition reveals an entire story and by doing so the photograph quietly reveals how life cycles depend on what we often overlook or dismiss.”
The winning pictures, along with category winners from topics ranging from urban wildlife to animals in their environment, will feature in an exhibition at the Natural History Museum, London, which runs the competition each year, before a UK and international tour.
Among the category winners are fluorescent images of fungi in Greece, a common octopus peeking out from kelp in the waters of south-west England, a pair of elusive shoebills gathering nesting material in South Africa, and a young bull elephant spraying a group of zebra at a waterhole (top image).
Photographers winning for a portfolio of images include Kutub Uddin, for his shots of the tiny hidden world of slime moulds in his local woodlands in West Sussex, England.
Young winners also included Amelie Davis, who scooped the top prize in the 10 years and under category for her shot taken when she was nine years old of a common carder bee coming into land on a flower, captured on her father’s smartphone.
Dr Doug Gurr, director of the Natural History Museum, said: “This year’s winning photographs demonstrate the extraordinary power of wildlife photography to help us see nature differently.
“From a deeply affecting image of an adult elephant carrying a dead calf to the determination of a dung beetle rolling a ball many times its own size, these photographs capture moments that are at once intimate, surprising and profoundly revealing.
“Together they remind us that every species plays a role in the complex web of life, and why understanding and protecting the natural world has never been more important.”
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum.
Tickets for the exhibition which opens this Friday 16th October are at the Natural History Museum, London website.