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Caught in the trap: This snow leopard stomped through the white landscape of Ladakh in northern India, triggering Sascha Fonseca's photo trap.
Every year, a jury selects the best photos of wild animals.
Snow leopards are particularly difficult to photograph, they are shy and their territory is large.
A snap like this requires a lot of luck.
Photo: Sascha Fonseca / Wildlife Photographer of the Year / Natural History Museum
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2/11
It's a sad find from a canal in Leiden, The Netherlands.
A young perch got caught in the thumb of a surgical glove.
Apparently the spikes on his back prevented him from escaping the trap.
The hole in the glove is evidence of the little fish trying to free itself.
In vain, the animal perished.
The »Wildlife Photographer of the Year« project wants to use photos like this to draw attention to current problems in the animal kingdom.
Photo: Auke-Florian Hiemstra / Wildlife Photographer of the Year / Natural History Museum
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3/11
This hyena lives in the big city.
Her pack is known as the Autobahn Clan.
The animals live in Harar in Ethiopia and feed on everything that people throw away.
In doing so, they decimate pathogens of infectious diseases that thrive on rotting meat waste.
The people therefore generally tolerate the hyenas.
This animal is the lowest ranking of the group, the higher ranking ones can be seen in the background.
Photo: Sam Rowley / Wildlife Photographer of the Year / Natural History Museum
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As ordered, this snow bunny looks directly into Deena Sveinsson's camera.
Sveinsson actually wanted to start walking home because she was cold while walking in snowshoes, but then she noticed a rustling in the snow, she waited patiently and was rewarded.
The rabbit happened to be looking right into Sveinsson's lens.
Photo: Deena Sveinsson / Wildlife Photographer of the Year / Natural History Museum
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5/11
This picture shows the threat to an entire species: Hundreds of people in the Dominican Republic fish for glass eels - that's what the young eels are called, which are considered a delicacy in Japan and have driven the species to the brink of extinction.
Eels reproduce only in the Sargasso Sea.
Their migration is still a mystery to scientists.
Eel fishing is now strictly regulated in the United States.
Since then, the Caribbean has been the main exporter, and it's a largely unregulated business there.
Photo: Eladio Fernandez / Wildlife Photographer of the Year / Natural History Museum
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The photo competition also awards pictures that capture unusual scenes.
This leopard caught a female baboon.
The baby baboon continues to cling to its dead mother.
According to photographer Igor Altuna, the female leopard gave the prey to her own cub.
The big cat played with the young baboon for about an hour before killing it.
This is typical behavior for cats.
They regularly play with their prey before eating it.
Photo: Igor Altuna / Wildlife Photographer of the Year / Natural History Museum
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7/11
Mindo glass frogs don't mind human company - lucky for photographers.
This way Jaime Culebras could calmly set up his photo equipment to capture the "ruby eyes" of this female.
Mindo glass frogs are found exclusively in northwestern Ecuador, and their habitat is threatened by mining and deforestation.
Photo: Jaime Culebras / Wildlife Photographer of the Year / Natural History Museum
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Snuggle up against the cold: These golden snub-nosed monkeys huddle together to brave the cold.
The animals live exclusively in central China.
Photographer Minqiang Lu waited in a tree across the street for the perfect shot.
He stayed at minus 10 degrees Celsius for over half an hour before he managed to take the perfect snapshot.
Photo: Minqiang-Lu / Wildlife Photographer of the Year / Natural History Museum
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A polar bear cub plays in a wildflower meadow in Hudson Bay, Canada.
Photographer Martin Gregus kept a safe distance from the predator and its mother.
He triggered the camera by remote control.
He could only guess which moment would be the best.
Only when the animals had moved on was he able to retrieve the camera and admire his snapshot.
Photo: Martin Gregus / Wildlife Photographer of the Year / Natural History Museum
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10/11
Normally, crested guinea fowl don't like being hacked by conspecifics, but not this specimen from the Kruger National Park in South Africa.
One animal kept pecking at the head and ear of the other.
He seemed to like that, says photographer Richard Flack.
It held very still, as if the other crested guinea fowl had scratched the very itchy spot.
Photo: Richard Flack / Wildlife Photographer of the Year / Natural History Museum
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Badgers are real night owls.
This example in Finland is no exception.
Photographer Sami Vartiainen lay in wait near the badger's burrow on a summer's night - he was rewarded.
He was able to watch the badger for a full 45 minutes from just seven meters away.
Until the animal finally made off into the night to look for prey.
Photo: Sami Vartiainen / Wildlife Photographer of the Year / Natural History Museum