[ad_1]
© Jens Cullmann
Photo: World Nature Photography Awards
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
[ad_2]