Hugging tiger wins prestigious wildlife photography award

British royal Kate Middleton presents Wildlife Photographer of Year at virtual ceremony in London's Natural History Museum

Winner – Earth’s Environments: Etna’s river of fire by Luciano Gaudenzio, Italy. All pictures courtesy Natural History Museum

Winner – Under Water: The golden moment by Songda Cai, China

Winner – 10 years and under: Perfect balance by Andrés Luis Dominguez Blanco, Spain

Winner – 15 to 17 years old, and Young Grand Title winner: The fox that got the goose by Liina Heikkinen, Finland

Winner – Urban Wildlife. Watching you watching them by Alex Badyaev, Russia/USA

Winner – Behaviour, Invertebrates: A tale of two wasps by Frank Deschandol, France

Winner - 2020, Animals in their Environment and Grand Title Winner: The embrace by Sergey Gorshkov, Russia

Winner – Behaviour, Birds: Great crested sunrise by Jose Luis Ruiz Jiménez, Spain

Winner – Behaviour, Amphibians and Reptiles: Life in the balance by Jaime Culebras, Spain

Winner – Behaviour, Mammals: When mother says run by Shanyuan Li, China

Winner – 11 to 14 years old: A mean mouthful by Sam Sloss, Italy/USA

Winner – 2020, Rising Star Portfolio: Eleonora’s gift by Alberto Fantoni, Italy

Winner: Show Business by Kirsten Luce, Canada

Winner – Animal Portraits: The pose by Mogens Trolle, Denmark

Winner – Portfolio Award: The last bite by Ripan Biswas, India

Winner – Wildlife Photojournalist Story Award: Backroom business by Paul Hilton, UK/Australia

Being able to photograph one of the world's rarest big cats having a tender moment is by no means an easy feat.

But Sergey Gorshkov managed to do so with his photo The Embrace,  which won him the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year on Tuesday evening.

The Embrace is a photo of a female Amur tiger in a forest in Russia's Siberia rubbing herself against a tree to leave her scent and mark her territory in the Land of the Leopard National Park.

"Hunted to the verge of extinction in the past century, the Amur tiger population is still threatened by poaching and logging today," said Dr Tim Littlewood, London's Natural History Museum's executive director of science and a jury member.

"The remarkable sight of the tigress immersed in her natural environment offers us hope, as recent reports suggest numbers are growing from dedicated conservation efforts.

"Through the unique emotive power of photography, we are reminded of the beauty of the natural world and our shared responsibility to protect it."

To capture the magical photo, Gorshkov left a camera in the forest for months, with the camera taking the picture automatically when the big cat came into view.

Young Photographer of the Year

The Fox that got the Goose won Liina Heikkinen of Finland this year's Young Photographer of the Year award.

Heikkinen comes from a family of nature photographers.

Her striking photo shows a fox defending the remains of a barnacle goose from its five siblings in the Finnish wilderness.

“A sense of furtive drama and frantic urgency enlivens this image, drawing us into the frame," said Shekar Dattatri, a wildlife filmmaker and jury member.

"The sharp focus on the fox's face leads us straight to where the action is. A great natural history moment captured perfectly."

British royal Kate Middleton on Monday visited London’s recently reopened Natural History Museum to preview the 56th Wildlife Photographer of the Year entries before she announced the winners on Tuesday evening at an online ceremony.

The Duchess of Cambridge, 38, who is a patron of the museum, announced the winners in the museum’s Hintze Hall with TV presenters Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin.

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Check out some of the highly commended entries from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020 competition: 

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The winning and runner-up entries will be on display at the Natural History Museum on Friday, October 16, before touring worldwide.

The duchess also presented the award in 2014 to celebrate the 50th year of the competition.

Her husband, Prince William, last week launched the Earthshot Prize – called the "Nobel Prize for environmentalism" – alongside naturalist Sir David Attenborough.

The Earthshot Prize, of which Dubai global ports operator DP World and Dubai Expo 2020 are founding partners, will award £50 million ($64.8m) over a decade to the best and most innovative ideas to battle environmental destruction.