The 42 winning images in the World Nature Photography Awards 2022

Two of this year's winners live in the UAE

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  Jens Cullmann from Germany won the gold and grand prize of World Nature Photographer of the Year in the Animal Portraits category. He took the picture of a crocodile at Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. All photos: World Nature Photography Awards

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  Mike Darten from the USA won the silver prize in the Animal Portraits category. He took a picture of a bison in Yellowstone National Park in the USA

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  Andre Johnson from the USA won the Bronze prize in the Animal Portraits category. He took a picture of a seaweed blenny at Blue Heron Bridge in Riviera Beach in Florida, USA

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  Sascha Fonseca from the UAE won the Gold prize for the, Animals in their Habitat category. She took a picture of a snow leopard in the Indian Himalayas

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  Thomas Vijayan from Canada won the Silver prize for the Animals in their Habitat category. He took a picture of a leopard in Kenya

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  Adam Horvath from Hungary won the bronze prize in the Animals in their Habitat category. He took a picture of a badger in Bakonybel, Hungary

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  Norihiro Ikuma from Japan won the gold prize for the Behaviour - Amphibians and Reptiles category. He took a picture of Japanese stream toads in the Owase Mountains in Japan

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  Ashok Behera from India won the silver prize in the Behaviour - Amphibians and Reptiles category. He took a picture of a crocodile in Bhitarkanika in the Indian state of Odisha

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  Suzanne Tylander from the USA won the bronze in the Behaviour - Amphibians and Reptiles category. She took a picture of a lizard in Florida

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  Charles Schmidt from the USA won the gold for the Behaviour - Birds category. He took a picture of a Male Hooded Merganser in Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, USA

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  Tamas Aranyossy from Hungary won the silver in the Behaviour - Birds category. He took a picture of a red-billed Oxpecker in Zimanga, South Africa

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  Li Liu from the USA won a bronze in the Behaviour - Birds category. Liu took a picture of a swallow at Kiskunsag National Park, Hungary

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  Javier Herranz Casellas from Spain won a gold in the Behaviour - Invertebrates category. He took a photo of a red crab (Grapsus adscensionis) at La Gomera Island, Spain

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  Takuya Ishiguro from Japan won a silver in the Behaviour - Invertebrates category. Ishiguro took a picture of a praying mantis and lizard in Miyagi, Japan

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  Sitaram Raul from India won a bronze in the Behaviour - Invertebrates category. He took a picture of a scorpion in Rajasthan, India

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  Hidetoshi Ogata from Japan won a gold in the Behaviour - Mammals category. He took a picture of Japanese macaques at Awaji Island, Japan

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  Eduardo Feldman from Israel won a silver in the Behaviour - Mammals category. He took a picture of a polar bear in the North Pole

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  Staffan Widstrand from Sweden won the bronze in the Behaviour - Mammals category. He took a picture of an African Savannah Elephant at Marakele National Park in South Africa

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  Alain Ernoult from France won the gold in the Black and White category. Ernoult took a picture of a Lesser Antillean Iguana in Grenada Island, West Indies

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  Artur Stankiewicz from Poland won a silver in the Black and White category. He took a picture of Wildebeest at the Mara river crossing in Kenya

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  Jules Oldroyd from the UK won a bronze in the Black and White category. Oldroyd took a picture of elephants in Savuti, Botswana

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  Tom Shlesinger from Israel won a gold in the Nature Art category. He took a picture of spawning coral in the Red Sea

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  Anirban Dutta from India won a silver in the Nature Art category. He took a picture of red spider mites in Cooch Behar, India

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  Silke Hullmann from Germany won a bronze in the Nature Art category. Hullmann took a picture of flamingos in Lake Magadi, Kenya

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  Nicolas Remy from Australia won a gold in the Nature Photojournalism category. He took a picture of an Australian fur seal in Port Kembla, NSW, Australia

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  Fernando Faciole from Brazil won a silver in the Nature Photojournalism category. He took a picture of caiman (Caiman yacare) in Pantanal, Brazil

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  Loren Kreisle from the USA won a bronze in the Nature Photojournalism category. She took this picture at Jokulsarlon Lagoon in Iceland

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  Virgil Reglioni from Norway won the gold in the People and Nature category. Reglioi took this picture inside a glacier in Solheimajokull, South Iceland

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  Alex Pansier from Netherlands won a silver in the People and Nature category. Pansier took a picture of a seal on Island of Dune near Helgoland, Germany

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  Evan Friedman from the USA won a bronze in the People and Nature category. He took a picture of a giant Oceanic Manta Ray in the Revillagigedo Archipelago, Mexico

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  Jake Mosher from the USA won a gold in the Planet Earth's Landscapes and Environments category. He took a picture of Grand Teton Peak in Wyoming, USA

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  Beatrice Wong from Hong Kong won a silver in the Planet Earth's Landscapes and Environments category. She took the picture in Laguna Colarada, Bolivia

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  Miki Spitzer from Israel won a bronze in the Planet Earth's Landscapes and Environments category. Spitzer took a picture of storm clouds in Iowa, USA

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  Julie Kenny from Australia won a gold in the Plants and Fungi category. She took a picture of a eucalyptus at Mount Barker in Western Australia

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  Mr Endy from Singapore won a silver in the Plants and Fungi category. He took a picture of Crepidotus fungus at Windsor Nature Park in Singapore

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  Antonio Coelho from Portugal won the bronze in the Plants and Fungi category. He took a picture of Mycenas fungi in Paredes, Portugal

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  Adriano Morettin from Italy won a gold in the Underwater category. Morettin took a picture of harlequin shrimps in Lembeh strait, Indonesia

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  Talia Greis from Australia won a silver in the Underwater category. She took a picture of a male Eastern gobbleguts in Sydney, Australia

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  Juho Karhu from Finland won a bronze in the Underwater category. Karhu took picture of a pygmy seahorse in Arborek Island, Raja Ampat, Indonesia

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  Vladislav Tasev from the UK won the gold in the Urban Wildlife category. Tasev took a picture of a common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria

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  Partha Roy from Singapore won the silver in the Urban Wildlife category. He took a picture of a buffy fish owl in Singapore

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  Nitin Michael from the UAE won the bronze in the Urban Wildlife category. He took a picture of two white-tailed sea eagles in Vladivostok, Russia

A picture of a mud-caked crocodile lurking in the waters of Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe has won the top prize at the World Nature Photography Awards.

The winning picture was shot by German photographer Jens Cullmann, who spotted the crocodile’s piercing yellow eye peeking over the top of the muddy waters.

“I had to be very careful not to disturb the crocodile, even though it was buried in dry mud,” he said. “They will launch themselves with tremendous speed and power at any animal foolish enough to come too close.”

Cullmann took the top award and a $1,000 prize, however, there were several other category winners selected from the thousands of entries received from 45 countries around the world.

Scroll through the gallery above to see all of the winning images

Other standout images included a shot of a red crab sitting perfectly still as a wave washes over it on La Gomera island, Spain. The picture, shot by Javier Herranz Casellas, took the top prize in the Behaviour — Invertebrates category.

The winning image in the Behaviour — Amphibians category, shot by Ikuma Norihiro, shows Japanese stream toads hitching a ride on each other as they swim over a tangled mass of egg strings, creating an otherworldly underwater scene.

Two of this year’s winners were from the UAE — Sascha Fonseca won gold in the Animals in their Habitat category thanks to her stunning image of a rare snow leopard captured in the Indian Himalayas.

Nitin Michael, meanwhile, took bronze in the Ubran Wildlife category for his picture of two white-tailed sea eagles fighting mid-air in Vladivostok, Russia.

Adrian Dinsdale, co-founder of the awards, said: “We congratulate all our winners and offer our deepest thanks for capturing such spectacular images of our precious planet. Once again, we hope it provides great motivation to us all to do everything we can to protect the Earth for future generations.”

Upon announcing the winners of the 2022 competition, the team also officially opened call for entries for this year. Pictures can be submitted via worldnaturephotographyawards.com/enter