A deer carrying the rotting head of a vanquished enemy and a playful lynx shortlisted for the Nuveen People’s Choice Award for Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
By •
February 4, 2026
A stunning photo of a deer carrying the rotten head of a rival and a lynx playing with its food has been shortlisted for the People’s Choice Award in the annual wildlife photography competition.
The 2026 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Nuveen People’s Choice Award is hosted by the Natural History Museum, London. Now anyone around the world can vote for their favorite photo online.
Other image highlights include the ‘superpod’ of spinner dolphins (Stenellalongirostris) feeding on the surface, and tigers (Panthera tigris) with a rare genetic disorder that gives them wide dark stripes.
you may like
Two heartbreaking images of polar bears (Urus maritimus) are also on the shortlist. One photo shows a mother and her three cubs napping on bare ground in the Canadian summer heat. The other photo shows a bear cub captured during a hunting trip in Svalbard, which took a tragic turn when the cub and its mother got too close to human habitation.
Voting closes on March 18th and the winning photo will be announced on March 25th. The photo will be displayed alongside 100 images from last year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in an exhibition at London’s Natural History Museum until July 2026.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. Don’t forget to let us know in the comments which image is your favorite.
Image 1/22
Joseph Stefan photographed a young lynx playfully tossing a rodent into the air in “Flying Rodent.”(Image credit: Josef Stefan / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
With his Swirling Superpod, Cecile Gavillon captured a large school of spinner dolphins swarming lanternfish toward the surface of the Pacific Ocean. (Image credit: Cecile Gabillon / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Above and Below,” Charles Davis captures a pig possum joey and his mother mirroring each other as they climb a branch.(Image credit: Charles Davis / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Hold Me Titley,” Dvir Bakai captures a brown-throated mother sloth cradling her baby in her arms to protect it from the rain.(Image credit: Dvir Barkay / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Along for the Ride,” Chris Gugu captured a young swimming crab hitchhiking on a jellyfish in the Lembeh Strait on North Sulawesi, Indonesia.(Image credit: Chris Gug / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In The Dark Knight, Prasenjit Yadav captures a rare tiger with broad, dark stripes roaming in a tiger reserve in India.(Image credit: Prasenjeet Yadav / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Into the Furnace,” Mogens Troll captured a butterfly perched on the snout of a sun bear sheltering from the rain in a furnace.(Image credit: Mogens Trolle / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Ready to Pounce,” Joseph Ferraro captured an ambush insect nymph, motionless in a flower, waiting for its prey to wander within its reach.(Image credit: Joseph Ferraro / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Precious Cargo,” Thomas Hunt captures a basement spider, also known as the Daddy Long-Legged Spider, which has a ball of precious eggs in its mouth.(Image credit: Thomas Hunt / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In Beak-to-Beak, Ponlawat Taipinarong captured a pair of sarus crane parents sharing an intimate and emotional moment with their one-week-old chick.(Image credit: Ponlawat Thaipinnarong / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “A Fragile Future,” Lance van de Vyver captures a baby pangolin wrapped in a warm blanket at a rescue center in South Africa.(Image credit: Lance van de Vyver / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “The Last Portrait,” Nima Sarikani captures a polar bear cub that was accompanying its mother on an unsuccessful hunting trip.(Image credit: Nima Sarikhani / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In A Fleeting Moment, Lior Berman photographs a cuckoo flapping its wings as it pecks at cicadas in the Costa Rican rainforest.(Image credit: Lior Berman / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In Portrait of Extinction, Adam Oswell captures a Uganda Wildlife Service ranger standing in front of a pile of confiscated traps.(Image credit: Adam Oswell / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Beauty and the Beast,” Alexandre Brisson captured a flock of flamingos against the backdrop of a desolate industrial area of power lines.(Image credit: Alexandre Brisson / Wildlife Photography of the Year)
Artur Tomashek captured a small male sitting on the abdomen of a well-camouflaged female broadhead spider in ‘couple camouflage’.(Image credit: Artur Tomaszek / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In Uniqueness, Daniela Unger photographs a leucistic otter eating catfish in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.(Image credit: Daniela Unger / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Marvellous Spatuletail,” Dustin Cheng captured a magnificent male spatuletail hummingbird showing off its long tail while feeding on flowers.(Image credit: Dustin Chen / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Bond in Motion,” Lalith Ekanayake captures a calf carrying a calf in India’s Western Ghats.(Image credit: Lalith Ekanayake / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Solar Waves,” Francesco Russo captured rows of solar panels spread across a landscape like ripples on water.(Image credit: Francesco Russo / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Leap to Adulthood,” Peter Lindell photographed three young kestrels about to make the jump from their nest to a nearby beam.(Image credit: Peter Lindel / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Dancing in the Headlights,” Will Nichols captures two young bears having a fight in the middle of the road.(Image credit: Will Nicholls / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.
