Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2019 captures ‘perfect moment’

A gripping action shot that captures “the perfect moment” has won its talented photographer the prestigious title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year. SEE THE ENTRIES

A gripping action shot that captures “the perfect moment” has won its talented photographer the prestigious title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Hailing from the Chinese province of Qinghai, Yongqing Bao stunned judges for his extraordinary image, The Moment, which frames a standoff between a Tibetan fox and a marmot.

Yongqing Bao won the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2019 title for this image taken in the Chinese province of Qinghai. Called The Moment, it pictures a standoff between a Tibetan fox and a marmot, which seems frozen in fear. Picture: Yongqing Bao/ Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Organisers of the contest, awarded by London’s Natural History Museum, described the incredibly rare image as “a powerful frame of both humour and horror, it captures the drama and intensity of nature”.

The Equal Match by Ingo Arndt. The image shows a puma in Patagonia attacking its prey, which was caught on camera by Frankfurt-born photographer Arndt. Picture: Ingo Arndt/ Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Land of the Eagle, which captures a magnificent eagle landing in Northern Norway, was the 2019 winner of the Behaviour: Birds category. Picture: Audun Rikardsen/ Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Chair of the judging panel, Roz Kidman Cox, said: “Photographically, it is quite simply the

perfect moment.

“The expressive intensity of the postures holds you transfixed, and the thread of energy between the raised paws seems to hold the protagonists in perfect

balance.

“Images from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are rare enough, but to have captured such a powerful interaction between a Tibetan fox and a marmot – two species key to the ecology of this high-grassland region – is extraordinary.”

The Garden of Eels, the winner of the Under Water category, shows the ray-finned fish sway and feed in the swift current off Dumaguete, Philippines, as other wildlife pass around them. Picture: David Doubilet/ Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Charlie Hamilton James captured this shot of The Rat Pack, which won the 2019 award for the Urban Wildlife. It shows the rats scuttling between their underground home and a pile of garbage in the streets of Manhattan in the early hours of the morning. Picture: Charlie Hamilton James/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

A close up shot shows the Face of Deception, which is the 2019 winner of the Animal Portraits category. The animal is actually an ant mimicking a spider as it rears up on its back legs. Picture: Ripan Biswas / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Zorica Kovacevic’s Tapestry of Life is the 2019 winner in the Plants and Fungi category. Picture: Zorica Kovacevic/ Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Stefan Christmann's The Huddle of emperor penguins in Antarctica is the winner of the Portfolio Award. Picture: Stefan Christmann/ Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Snow-plateau Nomads, by Shangzhen Fan, is the winner of the Animals in Their Environment category. Fan was born in a remote village in Guinan County of Qinghai Province, China. His main focus is wild animals and he has been photographing wildlife for a decade. Picture: Shangzhen Fan/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Snow Exposure, which shows in a bison in Yellowstone Park, is the winner of the Black and White category. Picture: Max Waugh

A teen prodigy from New Zealand, Cruz Erdmann, 14, won the award for Young Wildlife

Photographer of the Year 2019 with his serene portrait of an iridescent big fin reef squid

captured on a night dive off North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The teen, who gained his diving certification at the age of just ten, took up his passion for capturing aquatic life after inheriting his father’s old underwater camera.

Open to photographers of all ages and abilities, the next Wildlife Photographer of the Year

competition opens for entries on Monday, October 21.