39 winning images from the World Nature Photography Awards 2021

US photographer Amos Nachoum took the top prize for his image titled 'Facing Reality'

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  Grand Prize winner and Gold Medal, Behaviour — Mammals: leopard seal chasing a gentoo penguin, Antarctica, by Amos Nachoum, US. All photos: the photographer and World Nature Photography Awards 2021

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  Silver medal, Behaviour — Mammals: two bull elephants sparring with one another, Amboseli National Park, Kenya, by William Fortescue, UK.

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  Bronze medal, Behaviour — Mammals: five male cheetahs, Maasai Mara in Kenya, by Buddhilini de Soyza, Australia.

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  Gold medal, Animal Portraits: long-tailed macaques, Bali, Indonesia, by Tom Vierus, Fiji.

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  Silver medal, Animal Portraits: brown bear mother and her cubs, South Kamchatka Sanctuary, Russia, by Neelutpaul Barua, India.

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  Bronze medal, Animal Portraits: female puma and her cubs, Patagonia, Chile, by Amit Eshel, Israel.

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  Gold medal, Behaviour — Amphibians and Reptiles: Pacific tree frog, Canada, by Shayne Kaye, Canada.

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  Silver medal, Behaviour — Amphibians and Reptiles: American crocodile, Gardens of the Queen, Cuba, by Massimo Giorgetta, Italy.

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  Bronze medal, Behaviour — Amphibians and Reptiles: green iguana, Costa Rica, by Patrick Nowotny Hang, US.

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  Gold medal, Behaviour — Birds: vulture and fox feasting on a wildebeest, Maasai Mara in Kenya, by Ashok Behera, India.

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  Silver medal, Behaviour — Birds: red billed queleas, Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania, by Robert Ross, US.

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  Bronze medal, Behaviour — Birds: black cormorants, Heath Pond, Hampshire, UK , by Robert Maynard, UK.

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  Gold medal, Behaviour — Invertebrates: red ants, Indonesia, by Chin Leong Teo, Singapore.

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  Silver medal, Behaviour — Invertebrates: hawk moth, Kangaroo Valley Region, New South Wales, Australia, by Lincoln Macgregor, Australia.

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  Bronze medal, Behaviour — Invertebrates, green huntsman spider (Micrommata virescens) and a vinegar fly (Drosophila melanogaster), Magnitogorsk, Russia, by Irina Petrova Adamatzky, UK.

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  Gold medal, Nature — Art, Landscape with trees: San Quirico d'orcia, in Tuscany, Italy, by Federico Testi, Italy.

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  Silver medal, Nature — Art: dandelions, Germany, by Monika Schneider, Germany.

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  Bronze medal, Nature — Art: lettuce coral, Raja Ampat, Indonesia, by Gabriel Barathieu, Mayotte.

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  Gold medal, People and Nature: ice cave, Lake Baikal, Russia, by Sabrina Inderbitzi, Switzerland.

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  Silver medal, People and Nature: scuba diver with a school of mackerel, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico, by Mike Eyett, Austria.

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  Bronze medal, People and Nature: a discarded beer bottle as the home of a blenny nest, Chowder Bay, New South Wales, Australia, by Gaetano Gargiulo, Australia.

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  Gold medal, Plants and Fungi: abandoned house, Goa, India, by Gautam Kamat Bambolkar, US.

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  Silver medal, Plants and Fungi: young pine, covered with snow, Central Stara Planina in Bulgaria, by Vladislav Tasev, UK.

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  Bronze medal, Plants and Fungi: Panaeolus papilionaceus fungi, Allgaeuer region, Bavaria, Germany, by Jan Czeczotka, Germany.

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  Gold medal, Urban Wildlife: humpback whale, New York City, US, Matthijs Noome, US.

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  Silver medal, Urban Wildlife: Arabian red foxes, Kuwait City, by Mohammad Murad, Kuwait.

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  Bronze medal, Urban Wildlife: fox, Netherlands, by Alex Pansier, Netherlands.

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  Gold medal, Planet Earth's Landscapes and Environments: landscape, South Island, New Zealand, by Sam Wilson, Australia.

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  Silver medal, Planet Earth's Landscapes and Environments: pumice stone field, Catamarca Province, Argentina, by Alessandro Gruzza, Italy.

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  Bronze medal, Planet Earth's Landscapes and Environments: ice falls, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, by Rie Asada, Japan.

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  Gold medal, Black and White: rare blue morph arctic fox, Iceland, by Vince Burton, UK.

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  Silver medal, Black and White: toque macaque being fed by its mother, Yala National Park, Sri Lanka, by Avanka Fernando, Sri Lanka.

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  Bronze medal, Black and White: a family of Asiatic elephants, Udawalawe National Park, Sri Lanka, by Michael Stavrakakis, Australia.

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  Gold medal, Animals in their Habitat: Bornean orangutan, Borneo, by Thomas Vijayan, Canada.

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  Silver medal, Animals in their Habitat: juvenile California sea lion, Coronado Islands, Baja California, Mexico, by Celia Kujala, US.

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  Bronze medal, Animals in their Habitat: female polar bear, Isbukta, Svalbard, by Christian Tuckwell Smith, UK.

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  Gold medal, Nature Photojournalism: female orangutan aged 3 months, Sibolangit, SOCP Quarantine Centre, North Sumatra, Indonesia, by Alain Schroeder, Belgium.

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  Silver medal, Nature Photojournalism: hotel sewage pipe, Maldives, by Alexej Sachov, Ukraine.

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  Bronze medal, Nature Photojournalism: frogs and toads with legs removed for human consumption, Carpathian Mountains, Romania, by Bence Mate, Hungary.

An ice cave on Russia's frozen Lake Baikal, long-tailed macaques cuddled up against one another and a Pacific Tree Frog resting on a flower are some of the winners of the 2021 World Nature Photography Awards.

However, it was Amos Nachoum, a wildlife photographer from the US, who was awarded the grand prize and title of World Nature Photographer of the Year for his stunning underwater photo Facing Reality, which captured a tense moment between a leopard seal and a Gentoo penguin.

“For hours, I waited for the low tide to arrive along a shallow lagoon on a remote island off the Antarctic Peninsula. Like clockwork, the leopard seal arrived in the lagoon just before low tide. It put its head in the water and looked just like a rock sitting in the receding water,” he says.

“The young Gentoo penguins only dare to enter the water when it is shallow and when they got close enough to the seal, it turned its head at lightning speed, catching one of the penguins by its feet and taking it to deep water.

“Once the seal reached open water, I followed it and swam parallel to it, observing its actions. To my surprise, it let go of the penguin twice. Each time, the seal chased after the penguin again, as if it was enjoying the game. The terrified penguin tried to escape as the game continued. But soon, the end came.”

The year, contest organisers honoured photographers in 14 categories including people in Nature, Behaviour — Mammals, Plants and Fungi, and Urban Wildlife. The contest is open to anyone over the age of 18, from anywhere in the world. Amateur and professional photographers can apply and there is a $32 entry fee for submission.

“Whilst we know that the challenges around climate change are enormous, amazing things can be achieved if we all come together to affect change. That’s the philosophy behind the World Nature Photography Awards,” the group says on its website.

“We believe that we can all make small efforts to shape the future of our planet in a positive way and photography can go a long way in influencing people to see the world from a different perspective and change their own habits for the good of the planet."