Wildlife Photographer of the Year : Very Interesting Stuff

The annual
Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition finds the very best
wildlife images taken by the world's top professional and amateur
photographers.
Ten long
months spent stalking the rare and elusive snow leopard in
temperatures as low as -40ºC paid off for a dogged photographer.




An image
of the Himalayan big cat, silhouetted against a black sky
filled with snow, won the aptly-named Steve Winter the Wildlife
Photographer of the Year award.


The
picture captures the majestic beauty of the endangered leopard
and the bitingly cold and hostile high-altitude landscape it manages to
survive in.
An
estimated 3,500-7,000 snow leopards (Uncia uncia) survive in the
high-altitude regions of the Himalayas and mountains of Central Asia. A
fearsome predator, it has suffered a steep decline in numbers because
of poaching for its highly-prized skin and body parts.
An
exhibition of the winning images will be on view at the Natural History
[color:fd56=orange ! important]Museum from October
31 2008 - April 26 2009.
Last year
the exhibition attracted almost 134,000 visitors and was
later seen by more than 1m people at regional and international venues.




Troublemaker – Stefano Unterthiner, Italy. Winner, animal portraits



Sacrifice - David Maitland, UK. Winner - One Earth Award



Clash of eagles – Antoni Kasprzak, Poland. Winner, behaviour – birds



Frodo's prize - Cyril Ruoso, France. Winner, behaviour – Mammals



Deadlock - David Maitland, United Kingdom. Winner, behaviour - Other
Animals








First encounter - Brian Skerry, USA. Winner, behaviour - The Underwater
World



The Show – Catriona Parfitt, UK. Winner, young wildlife photographer of
the year



Snow swans - Yongkang Zhu, China. Winner, Animals in their Environment



Skeleton Coast of Namibia - Andy Biggs, USA. Winner, Wild Places



New occupant - Jamie McGregor Smith, UK. Winner, Urban and Garden
Wildlife










Sun jelly - Carlos Virgili, Spain. Winner, Nature in Black and White




Polar sunrise - Miguel Lasa, UK. Winner, Creative Visions of Nature




Swamp cypress - Cece Fabbro, USA. Winner, Praise of plants




Battle of the Bears - Tom Mills, UK. Junior awards, Specially Commended




Orcas at [color:fd56=orange ! important]sunset


-
Nuno Sá, Portugal. Highly Commended - Animals in their
Environment





Whooper lift-off - Ellen Anon, USA. Highly Commended - Animals in their
Environment



Sandpiper congregation - Arthur Morris, USA. Highly commended - Animal
behaviour: birds




Colourful business - Noam Kortler, Israel. Highly commended - The
underwater world




Bee-eater ballet - Chris van Rooyen, South Africa. Highly commended -
Animal portraits




Sea of life - Brian Skerry, USA. Visitor choice - The Underwater World




Treetop jigsaw in Malaysia - Brittany Fried, USA. Highly commended - 10
years and under