Wildlife Photographer of the Year reveals 2025's highly commended images - in pictures

The selection features a diverse range of subjects from a dramatic confrontation between animals to unusual perspectives on natural phenomena like alien-like slime molds

'No Place Like Home' by Emmanuel Tardy from France, of a brown-throated three-toed sloth clinging to a barbed wire fence post in Costa Rica. All Photos: PA

PRINT USE ONLY. NO SALES, NO ARCHIVE. NO CROPPING, NO OVERPRINTING, NO ALTERATIONS. CAN ONLY BE USED IN CONNECTION WITH THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM'S WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION MANDATORY CREDIT: Bidyut Kalita/Wildlife Photographer of the Year THE FOLLOWING MUST APPEAR CLEARLY AND LEGIBLY IN EDITORIAL COPY: Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. All coverage must include a link to the exhibition page at: https://bit.ly/WPY61Exhibition All front cover requests must be approved by the Natural History Museum and the photographer. Undated handout photo issued by Natural History Museum of Special Delivery by Bidyut Kalita, from India, of a hard-working potter wasp mid-flight with caterpillar prey for its young, taken in Goalpara, Assam, India, which has been Highly Commended in the Behaviour: Invertebrates category at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. The overall winners, including the Grand Title winner, will be announced on October 14. Issue date: Wednesday August 27, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Bidyut Kalita/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

'Toxic Tip' by Lakshitha Karunarathna from Sri Lanka, of a solitary Asian elephant navigating a waste disposal site in Sri Lanka

'Nature Reclaims Its Space' by Sitaram Raul from India, of fruit bats leaving their roost in the ruins of a historical monument

'Clouds of Gold' by Jassen Todorov of the USA, of clouds reflected in salt ponds that span San Francisco Bay

'Fragile River of Life' by Isaac Szabo of the USA, of longnose gars spawn in a Florida river

'Slime Family Portrait' by Kutub Uddin from Bangladesh/UK, of a line of alien-like slime moulds on a fallen tree in West Sussex

'Deadly Lessons' by Marina Cano from Spain, of a group of cheetahs after they caught a Gunther's dik-dik in Kenya

'Pink Pose' by Leana Kuster from Switzerland, of a greater flamingo in the act of scratching its head at Pont de Gau, France

'Wake-up Call' by Gabriella Comi from Italy, of a stand-off between a lion and a cobra in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

'A Tale of Two Coyotes' by Parham Pourahmad from the USA, of a male coyote within the black-tipped tail of a female in Bernal Heights Park, California

'Jelly Smack Summer' by Ralph Pace from the USA, of a mass, or 'smack', of Pacific sea nettles in Monterey Bay, California

'Essence of Kamchatka' by Kesshav Vikram of India, taken at Kurile Lake, Russia

'Inside the Pack' by Amit Eshel from Israel, of an inquisitive pack of Arctic wolves on Ellesmere Island, Canada

'Ice Edge Journey' by Bertie Gregory from the UK, of fledgling emperor penguin chicks walking along Ekstrom Ice Shelf, Antarctica

'Rutting Call' by Jamie Smart, of a red deer stag in Bradgate Park, Leicestershire