The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition for this year has crowned a brown hyena in an abandoned mining town and a longhorn beetle in a forest as its victors. The Natural History Museum in London, the organizer of the event for over six decades, unveiled the two grand prize winners and 19 category champions on Wednesday.
Wim van den Heever from South Africa claimed the Wildlife Photographer of the Year title with his photo “Ghost Town Visitor,” featuring a brown hyena at a derelict diamond mining town in Namibia. The hyena is on its way to the Namib Desert coast to hunt cape fur seal pups, passing through the ruins of Kolmanskop. Van den Heever spent a decade setting up camera traps in the hope of capturing this elusive creature, finally achieving success with this striking image.
Shane Gross, a photographer from Nanaimo, British Columbia, who won a top category last year, emerged as the sole Canadian winner in 2025. His winning entry “Like an Eel out of Water” captured the essence of “Animals in their Environment.” Gross took the photo while documenting the transformation of D’Arros Island in the Seychelles archipelago into a marine protected area.
Gross was keen on showcasing unique aspects of the island’s wildlife, beyond the commonly photographed species. His quest led him to observe peppered moray eels scavenging for food along the shore, a behavior rarely witnessed before. The resulting image highlights the eels’ remarkable characteristics and their role in the island’s ecosystem.
