Behold the magic of the animal kingdom: Winners of the 2024 Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest revealed

This intriguing representation by young Spanish lensman Alberto Roman Gomez, 'contrasting a delicate stonechat vertebrate with a hefty chain', is the victor of the 10 Years and Under category. He took the photograph of the vertebrate adjacent Spain's Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park from the model of his father's car. NHM says: 'Alberto recovered this young vertebrate tricky to photograph arsenic it was rapidly flying backmost and forth, gathering insects. The young vertebrate has not yet developed its big call, which sounds similar 2 stones tapped together'

Parham Pourahmad, a young American photographer, took this unthinkable photograph successful Ed R Levin County Park adjacent San Jose, California. Called 'An Evening Meal', it shows a young Cooper's hawk, a communal taxon successful North America, eating a squirrel 'under the past rays of the mounting sun' and is the victor of the 11-14 category. NHM adds: 'Over a azygous summer, Parham visited Ed R Levin County Park astir weekends to instrumentality photographs. He wanted to showcase the assortment of wildlife surviving wrong a engaged metropolitan city, and to exemplify that "nature volition ever beryllium chaotic and unpredictable"'

This quirky representation of a communal whitethroat successful Poland being held by a vertebrate ringer was taken by Polish lensman Liwia Pawlowska, who hopes her photograph 'helps others get to cognize this taxable better'. NHM says: 'Volunteers tin assistance trained unit astatine bird-ringing sessions, wherever a bird’s length, sex, information and property are recorded. Data collected helps scientists to show populations and way migratory patterns, aiding conservation efforts.' The photograph is this year's victor of the Impact Award

Igor Metelskiy, a Russian photographer, captures a 'lynx stretching successful the aboriginal evening sunshine, its assemblage mirroring the undulating wilderness'. It took the lensman much than six months to get the changeable of the 'elusive' carnal successful Russia's Lazovsky District, which wins the Animals successful their Environment award. NHM adds: 'A survey carried retired successful 2013 estimated the full Russian lynx colonisation was astir 22,500 individuals'

Canadian lensman John E.Marriott wins the Animal Portraits grant with this almighty representation of a lynx 'sheltering' its young from the acold upwind successful Canada's Yukon region. Marriott tracked the household for a week wearing snowshoes to get this shot. NHM says: 'Lynx numbers usually bespeak the earthy colonisation fluctuations of their main prey species, the snowshoe hare. With clime alteration reducing snowfall coverage, giving different predators much opportunities to hunt the hares, hare populations whitethorn decline, successful crook affecting the lynx population'

Jack Zhi, a U.S photographer, took this captivating representation of a young falcon 'practising its hunting skills' successful Los Angeles. It wins the Behaviour: Birds category. NHM says: 'Should this young peregrine falcon marque it to adulthood, tests person shown it volition beryllium susceptible of stooping, oregon dropping down connected its prey from above, astatine speeds of much than 300 kilometres per hr (186 miles per hour)'

This adorable representation of a young toque macaque sleeping successful an adult's arms successful Sri Lanka was captured by Sri Lankan lensman Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod and wins the Behaviour: Mammals award. NHM says: 'Toque macaques easy accommodate to quality foods, and the encroachment of plantations into their situation has seen an summation successful incidents of shooting, snaring and poisoning by farmers trying to sphere their crops'

'Wetland Wrestle' was changeable by U.S lensman Karine Aigner successful Brazil. The mesmerising representation depicts a yellowish anaconda 'coiling itself astir the snout of a caiman' and wins the Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles award. NHM says: 'Caimans are generalist feeders and volition devour snakes. As anacondas get larger, they volition see reptiles successful their diet. It’s hard to find who is the aggressor here. On the snake's backmost are 2 tabanids, blood-sucking horseflies that are known to people reptiles'

Above is simply a striking photograph titled 'The Demolition Squad'. It was taken by German lensman Ingo Arndt successful Germany and wins the Behaviour: Invertebrates category. The representation shows the 'dismemberment of a bluish crushed beetle by reddish wood ants'. NHM says: 'Much of the reddish wood ants’ nourishment comes from honeydew secreted by aphids, but they besides request protein. They are susceptible of sidesplitting insects and different invertebrates overmuch larger than themselves done sheer spot successful numbers'

Jiri Hrebicek, a Czech photographer, took this 'impressionistic' representation of a 'perching carrion crow' successful a parkland successful Basel, Switzerland. It's the victor of the Natural Artistry class and Jiri 'deliberately moved his camera successful antithetic directions' to seizure a 'painterly effect'. NHM says: 'Carrion crows are intelligent birds that person successfully adapted to surviving alongside humans, with gardens and parks providing a regular nutrient supply'

Justin Gilligan, an Australian photographer, created this poignant mosaic from 403 pieces of integrative 'found wrong the digestive tract of a dormant flesh-footed shearwater'. The representation wins the Oceans: The Bigger Picture category. NHM says: 'Studies recovered that three-quarters of big flesh-footed shearwaters breeding connected Lord Howe Island – and 100 per cent of fledglings – contained plastic'

This bewitching representation of a 'gnarled aged birch histrion adorned with airy "old man's beard" lichens' was taken by Italian lensman Fortunato Gatto in Glen Affric successful the Scottish Highlands. It wins the 'Plants and Fungi' category. NHM says: 'Fortunato often visits the Glen Affric past pinewoods unsocial to suffer himself successful its intricate, chaotic, timeless beauty. The airy "old man’s beard" lichens bespeak that it’s an country of minimal aerial pollution. Glen Affric is location to the highest attraction of autochthonal trees successful the UK, making it a captious ecosystem'

This photograph of a 'curious leopard seal' successful Antarctica was taken by British-Australian lensman Matthew Smith. He utilized a 'specially made extension' for his underwater instrumentality to seizure the image, which wins the competition's Underwater category. NHM says: 'Though leopard seals are wide and abundant, overfishing, retreating oversea crystal and warming waters mean that krill and penguins – their main nutrient sources – are some successful decline'

This breathtaking representation shows a tiger resting supra a municipality successful India's Western Ghats upland range. It was captured by German lensman Robin Darius Conz and wins the Urban Wildlife category. NHM says: 'The protected areas successful the Western Ghats, wherever tigers are cautiously monitored, are immoderate of the astir biodiverse landscapes successful India and person a unchangeable colonisation of tigers. Outside these areas, wherever improvement has created struggle betwixt humans and wildlife, tiger occupancy has declined'

This almighty representation of a London Metropolitan constabulary serviceman 'dusting a confiscated tusk for prints' was captured by German/UK lensman Britta Jaschinski astatine London's Heathrow Airport. It wins the Photojournalism award. NHM says: 'Newly developed magnetic pulverization allows experts to get fingerprints from ivory up to 28 days aft it was touched, expanding the chances of identifying those progressive successful its amerciable trade'

This stunning representation of an Amazon River dolphin was snapped by German/South African lensman Thomas Peschak. The image, which wins the Photojournalist Story award, was taken successful an country 'where section communities are creating opportunities for tourists to brushwood the dolphins', says NHM. It adds: 'This brings different acceptable of problems: erstwhile they’re fed by humans, the dolphins go unhealthy and younger individuals don’t larn to hunt for themselves. Traditional Amazonian beliefs clasp that the dolphins tin instrumentality connected quality form, and they are some revered and feared. Others spot them arsenic thieves who bargain food from nets and should beryllium killed'

Sage Ono, a U.S photographer, wins the Rising Star Portfolio grant with this captivating representation of 'tube-snout food eggs' successful California. NHM says: '[They] volition slice successful colour arsenic the embryos develop. But for now, they sparkle similar gems adjacent to the kelp’s gold, glowing, gas-filled buoyancy aids'

This cute representation of a rabbit-like ninu 'framed' by 'wire writer and shrubs' successful South Australia was captured by Australian lensman Jannico Kelk and wins this year's Impact Award. NHM says: 'The greater bilby has galore Aboriginal names, including ninu. It was brought to adjacent extinction done predation by introduced foxes and cats. Within fenced reserves wherever galore predators person been eradicated, the bilby is thriving'

This breathtaking representation of a tiny springtail insect looking astatine a slime mould was taken by German lensman Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas and is the victor of the 15-17 years category. It besides nets the creator the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year award. NHM says: 'Springtails tin leap galore times their assemblage magnitude successful a divided second. Alexis utilized a method called absorption stacking, wherever 36 images, each with a antithetic country successful focus, are combined. Springtails are hardly 2 millimetres agelong (less than a tenth of an inch)'

This is the representation that nets Canadian lensman Shane Gross the winners medal for the Wetlands: The Bigger Picture class and earns him the Wildlife Photographer of the Year accolade. He took this photograph of swimming occidental toad tadpoles successful Vancouver Island's Cedar Lake. NHM explains: 'Shane snorkelled successful the water for respective hours done carpets of lily pads. This prevented immoderate disturbance of the good layers of silt and algae covering the water bottom, which would person reduced visibility.' It adds that an 'estimated 99 per cent of the tadpoles volition not past to adulthood'