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From parasitic plants to restless volcanoes: The best nature photos of 2024

From parasitic plants to restless volcanoes: The best nature photos of 2024

Words: Hugh Coombs

Photos courtesy of World Nature Photography Awards

A yellow-billed oxpecker perching in a precarious position on an African water buffalo in Kenya. Sri Lanka. World Nature Photography Awards A yellow-billed oxpecker perching in a precarious position on an African water buffalo in Kenya. Sri Lanka. World Nature Photography Awards
A yellow-billed oxpecker perching in a precarious position on an African water buffalo in Kenya.
Photo: Lakshitha Karunarathhna, Sri Lanka
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Whether it’s tiny creatures or limitless vistas, the natural world has a never-ending ability to inspire awe. The incredible collection of images in this year’s World Nature Photography Awards capture a little bit of that awe. Here’s our selection of nature’s best photos.

Can a picture change the world?

The organisers of the World Nature Photography Awards think so. We all have influence over positively shaping our planet, and documenting our surroundings can help us see the world from a different perspective, and change our own habits for the good.

Chosen from thousands of entries from around the world, these images certainly prove that. From a tiny plant (with a strange resemblance to an owl), to the breathtaking expanses of Iceland, there is so much on this pale blue dot worth fighting for.

A mauve stinger jellyfish (Pelagia nocticula) floats off the coast of Noli, Italy. The Latin name is derived from the jellyfish’s ability to glow in the dark. World Nature Photography Award

A mauve stinger jellyfish (Pelagia nocticula) floats off the coast of Noli, Italy. The Latin name is derived from the jellyfish’s ability to glow in the dark.
Photo: Giovanni Crisafulli, Italy

A boy in Jaisalmer, India chases a swarm of locusts in the setting sun. World Nature Photography Awards
A boy in Jaisalmer, India chases a swarm of locusts in the setting sun.
Photo: Hira Punjabi, India
A Himalayan griffon vulture stares down the barrel of the lens after enjoying a meal in the mountains of Chopta, India. World Nature Photography Awards
BRONZE©Partha Roy_Bloody Himalayan vulture

A Himalayan griffon vulture stares down the barrel of the lens after enjoying a meal in the mountains of Chopta, India.
Photo: Partha Roy, Singapore
A lagoon forms a natural mirror in Los Glaciares National Park, Patagonia, Argentina. World Nature Photography Awards
A lagoon forms a natural mirror in Los Glaciares National Park, Patagonia, Argentina.
Photo: Vittorio Ricci, Italy
Nubian ibex fight on a cliff in the Negev Desert in Israel. A vulnerable species, the Nubian ibex is estimated to have a wild population of 4,500 mature individuals. World Nature Photography Awards
Nubian ibex fight on a cliff in the Negev Desert in Israel. A vulnerable species, the Nubian ibex is estimated to have a wild population of 4,500 mature individuals.
Photo: Amit Eshel, Israel
Sally light-foot crabs brave the waters on Santiago Island in the Galapagos. World Nature Photography Awards
Sally light-foot crabs brave the waters on Santiago Island in the Galapagos.
Photo: Lukas Walter, Switzerland
It may look like an owl, but Thismia Thaithongiana is really a parasitic plant that feeds on fungi. This one was photographed in Thailand’s Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary by Chatree Lertsintanakorn, who was awarded gold in the plants and fungi category. World Nature Photography Awards
It may look like an owl, but Thismia Thaithongiana is really a parasitic plant that feeds on fungi. This one was photographed in Thailand’s Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary by Chatree Lertsintanakorn, who was awarded gold in the plants and fungi category.
Photo: Chatree Lertsintanakorn, Thailand
Volcanic sand blankets the Beach below the Vestrahorn mountain in Stokksnes, Iceland. World Nature Photography Awards
Volcanic sand blankets the Beach below the Vestrahorn mountain in Stokksnes, Iceland.
Photo: Ivan Pedretti, Italy
A lava lizard giving a head massage to a marine iguana on the Galapagos Islands. World Nature Photography Awards

A lava lizard giving a head massage to a marine iguana on the Galapagos Islands.
Photo: John Seagar, UK

Blue watery veins, glacial braids and golden sediment cast across Iceland. World Nature Photography Awards
Blue watery veins, glacial braids and golden sediment cast across Iceland.
Photo: Miki Spitzer, Israel
A female sunbird creates a nest in the heart of a hanging dragon in Be'er Ora, Israel. World Nature Photography Awards
A female sunbird creates a nest in the heart of a hanging dragon in Be’er Ora, Israel.
Photo: Roy Wiesner, Israel
Two gannets dive underwater fighting for a meal off the coast of the Shetland Islands. World Nature Photography Awards
Two gannets dive underwater fighting for a meal off the coast of the Shetland Islands.
Photo: Tracey Lund, UK
Villarrica volcano in Chile illuminates the wispy clouds above. World Nature Photography Awards
Villarrica volcano in Chile illuminates the wispy clouds above.
Photo: Francisco Negroni, Chile
A male night frog calling in front of a clutch of eggs in Amboli, India. World Nature Photography Awards
A male night frog calling in front of a clutch of eggs in Amboli, India.
Photo: Karthik Ak, USA
A praying mantis photographed in Servia, Greece. World Nature Photography Awards
A praying mantis photographed in Servia, Greece.
Photo: Panagiotis Dalagiorgos, Greece
A elephant calf protected and guided by its mother in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. World Nature Photography Awards
A elephant calf protected and guided by its mother in Amboseli National Park, Kenya.
Photo: Tom Way, UK
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