Brazilian is awarded in wildlife photography competition

The wildlife photography competition organized by the Natural History Museum in London revealed the 2025 winners, and among them is Brazilian Fernando Faciole, winner of the Impacto Prize.

His image “’Orphan of the Road” shows an orphaned giant anteater cub following his caretaker after being fed at a rehabilitation center in Belo Horizonte. Traffic accidents are among the main causes of the decline in the population of these animals in Brazil.

The centers are managed by the Anteaters and Highways project of the Institute for the Conservation of Wild Animals.

The Institute is also developing strategies to reduce anteater deaths on Brazilian roads by installing fences and building underground tunnels to allow the animals to cross safely.

Image of rare hyena in ghost town wins wildlife contest

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the competition’s main prize, was South African Wim van den Heever. He portrayed a rare brown hyena, which is nocturnal and solitary, in an abandoned diamond mining town in Kolmanskop, Namibia.

The image “Visitor from the ghost town” was taken with a camera trap. He said it took him a decade to register.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year award is produced by the Natural History Museum in London and this year received a record number of entries, more than 60,000, from 113 countries and territories.

All winning wildlife photographs will be displayed in an exhibition at the Museum.

Meet the other wildlife photography award winners

Animals in their environment, Share Gross

“Like an eel out of water” was the image captured on D’Arros Island, Amirante, Seychelles, and shows a spotted moray eel hunting at low tide.

Portrait of animals, Philipp Egger

The Italian photographer captured the orange glow of an eagle owl’s eyes and the evening light falling on its feathers.

The photo “Shadowhunter” was awarded in the Portrait category of the London Natural History Museum’s wildlife photography competition.

Behavior: Amphibians and Reptiles, Quentin Martine

French photographer “Playing Frogs” captured a gathering of small tree frogs in Kaw Mountain, French Guiana.

Behavior: Birds, Oingrong Yang

“Synchronized Fishing” depicts a scene in which a ladyfish (ladyfish) captures its prey right under the beak of a small heron in Yundang Lake, Fujian Province, China.

Yang’s image won in the Bird Behavior category of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award.

Behavior: Invertebrates, Georgina Steytler

The photo taken in Western Australia was titled “Mad Hatter”, as it shows the strange ‘helmet’ of a gumleaf skeleton caterpillar.

Behavior: Mammals, Dennis Stogsdill

“Cat Among the Flamingos” shows a desert lynx hunting a flamingo in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

Oceans: General Overview, Audun Rikardsen

The photographer captured the exact moment of feeding time around an Atlantic fishing vessel during a night in northern Norway in the photo “The Feast”.

Natural Art, Simone Baumeister

Car lights highlight the silhouette of a spider weaving its web on a pedestrian bridge in Ibbenbüren, Germany, titled “Caught in the Headlights.”

Underwater, Ralph Pace

“Survival bag” was the winning photo in the Underwater category of the Wildlife Photography contest. The image shows a whale shark’s egg case illuminated and tied to the base of giant seaweed in Monterey Bay, California.

Plants and Fungi, Chien Lee

In this photo, called “Deadly Fascination”, the photographer uses a UV flashlight to reveal the fluorescent colors of a carnivorous plant that attracts insects in the city of Kuching, Malaysia.

Portfolio Award, Alexey Kharitono

The Portfolio Prize went to Kharitonov, a self-taught photographer, with a series of photos taken while exploring remote regions in northern Russia, Siberia and Asia.

The image below, called “Eye of the Tundra”, shows a thermokarst lake, shaped by the action of water, 30 meters wide.

Photojournalism series, Javier Aznar Gonzalez de Rueda

Spanish photographer Javier Aznar González de Rueda explored the complex relationship between humans and rattlesnakes in the US.

The photo, titled “From Venom to Medicine,” shows drops of the deadly venom of an eastern diamondback rattlesnake being extracted and dripping into a cup. The poison will be used to produce an antidote with potential for medical treatment.

Single image, Photojournalism, Jon A. Juárez

Jon A. Juárez won the award in the Photojournalism category for documenting the groundbreaking science used in Kenya to save the northern white rhinoceros from extinction through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

This white rhino fetus, which did not survive due to an infection, was the result of the first successful rhino embryo transfer to a surrogate via in vitro fertilization.

The photo is aptly titled “How to Save a Species.”

Wetlands: General overview, Sebastian Frölich

In the photo “Disappearing Lagoon”, the German photographer finds a springtail (garden flea) among bubbles of neon green gas in Austrian moors.

Rising Star Award, Luca Lorenz

Luca Lorenz won the Rising Star award with some of his photos of German wildlife. The image titled “Sole Survivor” shows a Eurasian pygmy owl caring for her young after her mate went missing.

See the winners of the Young category

Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Andrea Dominizi

The winner of the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year category was Italian Andrea Dominizi, for his image “After the destruction”, which captures the loss of habitat of a longhorned beetle in the Lepini Mountains in central Italy.

The insect is in the foreground with machinery in the background. The abandoned site was an area explored for the extraction of old beech trees (a type of tree from the oak and chestnut family).

Category 10 years and under, Jamie Smart

The young photographer captured a weaver spider inside its nest and with its web covered in dew on a cold September morning in central Wales. In the image called “The weaver’s hole”, the spider is illuminated and symmetrically framed.

Category 11-14 years old, Lubin Godin

Frenchman Lubin Godin captured the silhouette of an ibex, a type of wild goat, in the mountains shrouded in mist. The photo was titled “Alpine dawn”.

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