South African photographer Willem van den Heever knew he was coming, the rare brown hyena (Hyaena brunnea). He had previously seen the animal’s paw prints in the area. That’s why he set up his camera trap right there, with the dramatic backdrop of an old house in the long-abandoned mining town of Kolmanskop in southern Namibia.
The jury of Wildlife Photographer of the Year affiliated with the Natural History Museum in London, selected Van den Heever’s photo as the winner from a record number of 60,636 entries, from 113 countries or territories. “How appropriate it is that this photo was taken in a ghost town,” jury chairman Kathy Moran praised the winning photo. “You get a tingling feeling when you look at this image and you know you are in the realm of this hyena.”
Photographer Van den Heever says it took him ten years to capture this perfect picture of the brown hyena. The shy animal usually goes alone and under cover of the night in search of food. On the way from their lair in the desert to the Atlantic coast, they pass the former mining town where German settlers mined diamonds at the beginning of the twentieth century. On the beach they hunt for seal pups or eat the dead animals that have washed up there.
Stillborn rhino calf in a research project to save the black rhino via IVF.
Photo Jon A. Juarez
In the photojournalism category, Jon A. Juárez won with a photo of a white rhino fetus that did not survive a viral infection. The stillborn animal was the result of an initial test to birth rhinos via IVF. The BioRescue Project in Kenya ultimately wanted to save the almost extinct black rhino by obtaining new growth of the species with a white rhino as a surrogate mother.
The exhibition with all the winning photos can be seen at the Natural History Museum in London until July 12, 2025.
The crazy hat caterpillar, so called because it continues to carry the exoskeleton from previous molts on its head.
Photo Georgina Steytler
A swell shark egg attaching itself tightly to the kelp in Monterey Bay off the coast of California.
Photo Ralph Pace
Winner in the natural art category. The silhouette of a spider on a pedestrian bridge with the lights of passing cars underneath.
Photo Simone Baumeister
Insectivorous pitcher plants give a purplish glow when exposed to a UV lamp at night. Fluorescence probably plays a role in attracting insects.
Photo Chien Lee
In the polar night at sea near northern Norway, seagulls are having a feast when the nets of a cutter are being hauled in.
Photo Audun Rikardsen
Simultaneous fishing in Yundang Lake in the Chinese province of Fujian. The egret has to watch as a ladyfish steals the prey it had in mind from its mouth.
Photo Qingrong Yang
Springtails between neon green gas bubbles in the last raised bog area of Austria in the Platzertal in Tyrol.
Photo Sebastian Froelich
A collection of tree frogs in a forest on Mount Kaw in French Guiana. Heavy rainfall is a signal for the frogs to come together for a few hours and mate.
Photo Quentin Martinez
A young orphaned anteater follows his caretaker at an animal shelter in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The cub’s mother was killed by a car, a common occurrence in Brazil. Volunteers have therefore started constructing fences along highways in combination with wildlife tunnels, so that animals can cross safely.
Photo Fernando Faciole
A caracal catches a flamingo at Lake Ndutu in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.
Photo Dennis Stogsdill
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