Wildlife Photographer of the Year

This year, 50,000 photographers across 92 countries applied to the "Wildlife Photographer of the Year". The South African Brent Stirton won the competition, who impressed the jury with a shocking picture of a black rhinoceros.

The prize for best natural photographer is one of the most prestigious awards in the world. In the reasoning of the jury for the startlingly image of Brent Stirton's rhinoceros it was said that he had portrayed the scene "almost majestically." The photograph would be "a symbol for one of the most lavish, cruel and unnecessary crimes on nature." Stirton shot the picture in a wild reserve in South Africa. Black rhinoceros are threatened in particular due to poaching and illegal trade with its horns.

Dutch photographer Daniel Nelson won the category Jugendpreis. He portrayed a young western lowland gorilla at the Odzala National Park in the Republic of the Congo. The monkey can be seen on the picture lying on the forest floor enjoying an African breadfruit. The jury was of the opinion that the picture highlights the similarity between wild monkeys and us as humans.

Offshore the north coast of Sri Lanka, the photographer Tony Wu captured an impressive picture of sperm whales. It shows the mammals as they touch each other and thus scrub off mutually loose skin scraps.

The natural photographer and author Laurent Ballesta provided another underwater image. He dived deeper than anyone did before under the sea ice of Antarctica and used 147 individual images with which he compiled an insight into the living environment threatened by global warming.

Brian Skerry won in the category "Behavior of Amphibians and Reptiles" with his painting "The ancient ritual". The photo deals with a female leatherback turtle, who digs a scrape for its egg deposition at night and then looks for the way back to the sea.

All in all photos out of 16 categories were honored. 99 images will now be shown in an exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London. Afterwards there will be a worldwide touring exhibition. The exhibition will open from 24th November 2017 on at the Westphalian Horse Museum in Münster.