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A Year of Extraordinary Wildlife Photography
From the Amazon's pink dolphins to polar bears in wildflowers, the most striking nature images of 2025 reveal the planet's breathtaking biodiversity. Photographers captured rare behaviors, elusive species, and surreal landscapes across seven continents.
Desert Lions Turn to the Ocean
A lioness stands watch on Namibia's Skeleton Coast, waves crashing behind her, in a photo by Griet Van Malderen. A small pride of desert lions abandoned their usual hunting grounds to scavenge along the Atlantic shoreline-a dramatic shift in behavior documented by photographer Isabelle Gerretsen.
Hyenas Claim Abandoned Diamond Towns
Wim van den Heever spent a decade tracking brown hyenas before capturing one prowling through the ruins of a Namibian mining settlement. The animals use derelict buildings as shelter from the desert heat and even raise cubs in the crumbling structures, according to Martha Henriques' report.
Mythical Creatures of the Amazon
Hussain Aga Khan photographed the elusive pink river dolphin, or boto, revered-and feared-as the Amazon's "great thieves" by indigenous communities. Sofia Moutinho's story explores the legends surrounding these mysterious freshwater mammals.
Polar Bears in a Sea of Fireweed
Roie Galitz's image of two young polar bears playfully rolling in Nunavut's fireweed challenged stereotypes of Arctic wildlife. The vibrant August scene in Canada's far north offered a rare splash of color against the usual icy backdrop.
Record-Breaking Discoveries in the Himalayas
WWF India's camera traps in Arunachal Pradesh's Mago Chu valley snapped the first photographic proof of Pallas's cats at nearly 5,000 meters (16,404 feet) above sea level. The survey also documented India's highest-elevation records for common leopards, clouded leopards, and marbled cats.
Predators and Prey in Stunning Detail
Qinrong Yang's shot of a ladyfish snatching prey from beneath a little egret's beak won accolades in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. The feeding frenzy unfolded in Yundang Lake, near the photographer's home in southeastern China.
Comedy and Acrobatics in the Wild
The 2025 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards crowned a young gorilla in Rwanda's Virunga Mountains as its champion. The image shows the primate mid-pirouette, tumbling through a forest clearing in a display of playful agility.
Underwater Marvels and Volcanic Visions
Hitomi Tsuchiya's finalist photo in the Oceanographic Photographer of the Year competition revealed a turtle swimming through an "underwater aurora" off Japan's Satsuma-Iojima Island. The ethereal glow stems from iron-rich hydrothermal vents along the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Stingrays Reshape the Seafloor
Ysabela Coll's third-place image in the competition's Fine Art category captured stingrays stirring up sand to evade predators-or ambush prey. Scientists estimate rays move thousands of tons of sediment annually, redistributing nutrients across the ocean floor.
Unusual Adaptations and Architectural Feats
Daniel Sly's finalist photo in the Oceanographic Photographer of the Year competition showcased a male eastern gobbleguts "mouth brooding" fertilized eggs in Sydney Harbour. The fish incubates its young in its mouth, a behavior known as paternal mouth brooding.
The "Mad Hatterpillar"
Georgina Steytler's winning shot in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards featured a gum-leaf skeletoniser caterpillar's translucent "hat" made of shed head capsules. The tower-like structure may help deter predators.
Spiders and Carnivorous Plants
Simone Baumeister's image of an orb weaver spider silhouetted against car lights in Ibbenbüren, Germany, highlighted the arachnid's intricate web-building process. Meanwhile, Chien Lee's photo of a fluorescing pitcher plant-illuminated by UV light-won the Plants and Fungi category, revealing the plant's carnivorous traps.
