Polar bear falling asleep on iceberg crowned wildlife photograph of the year

“I hope this photograph also inspires hope.

There is still time to clean up the mess we have caused

,” said Nima Sarikhani after winning the 59th People's Choice Award for Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

The British amateur photographer spent three days searching for polar bears aboard an expedition ship around the Norwegian islands.

The adventure was initially difficult because of thick fog.

But as the ship crossed an icy stretch of sea, the group of shippers spotted two polar bears - a young male and an older one.

What followed was an 8-hour shadowing between the icebergs until the youngest of the duo decided to take a nap.

Using its claws, the bear managed to dig a bed for itself on top of a small iceberg before falling asleep.

Thanks to the light of the midnight sun, Nima Sarikhani took the opportunity to immortalize this moment which will allow him to win

, he believes.

According to the Natural History Museum in London:

The photograph was crowned thanks to a record number of 75,000 voters.

For his part, the British photographer said he was