Nature Photography: The Winners of 2021
The best nature photographs of 2021 showcase the beauty and vulnerability of wildlife. An overview of the award-winning images.
The winning images of this year's competition, on display at the Natural History Museum in London from 15 October.
A stunning photograph capturing the «explosive creation of life» of spawning groupers beat more than 50’000 other photos to win the top prize at the «Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021«.
The underwater image titled «Creation» shows camouflage groupers (Epinephelus polyphekadion), an endangered species, emerging from a cloud of eggs and sperm in Fakarava, French Polynesia, in the South Pacific.
Laurent Ballesta, an underwater photographer and biologist, took the photograph while diving in the Fakarava lagoon to observe the groupers' spawning behaviour, which takes place every July during the full moon.
«The image works on so many levels«, said Rosamund Kidman Cox, Chair of the jury for Wildlife Photographer of the Year, in a statement. «It is surprising, energetic and fascinating, and has an otherworldly beauty. It also captures a magical moment – a truly explosive creation of life – and lets the end of the exodus of eggs linger for a moment like a symbolic question mark.«
Other winners:
