This year's 野性生物 Photographer of the Year 勝利者 is both incredibly beautiful and utterly strange

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A beautiful and bizarre portrait of a tri-spine horseshoe crab gently 巡航するing along the 底（に届く） of the 太平洋の Ocean has helped a French man 勝利，勝つ the coveted 肩書を与える of 野性生物 Photographer of the Year for a 目印 second time.

The international contest run by the Natural History Museum sees 入ること／参加（者）s showcasing some of the most みごたえのある images of the natural world - 逮捕（する）d in brilliant high 鮮明度／定義 and colour.

Laurent?Ballesta, an underwater photographer and 海洋 biologist, 設立する the horseshoe crab - which dates from 先史の times - in the waters of Pangatalan Island in the Philippines.?

It is …を伴ってd in the winning 発射 by three dazzlingly 有望な golden trevally fish, who seem to happily 追跡する above the 深い sea creature, which leaves clouds of sand in its wake.

Other 入ること／参加（者）s saw Bertie Gregory from the UK 描写する a pod of orcas surrounding a Weddell 調印（する） on a patch of melting ice in Antarctica, while?マイク Korostelev, from Russia, pictured a hippopotamus and her cubs?残り／休憩（する）ing underwater in the azure （疑いを）晴らす water lake at Kosi Bay, South Africa.

A 劇の 発射 of two Nubian ibex 開始する，打ち上げるing their horns in 中央の-空気／公表する surrounded by the mountains of the Zin 砂漠 was taken by?Amit Eshel from イスラエル.

Laurent Ballesta, an underwater photographer and 海洋 biologist from フラン, has won the Natural History Museum's 野性生物 Photographer of the Year prize after 逮捕（する）ing this image of a horseshoe crab in the waters of Pangatalan Island in the Philippines

'鯨s making waves', a pod of orcas as they 準備する to 'wave wash' a Weddell 調印（する） at 南極の 半島, Antarctica, by Bertie Gregory, from the UK

'Hippo nursery', a hippopotamus and her two offspring 残り／休憩（する）ing in the shallow （疑いを）晴らす-water lake at Kosi Ba y, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa, by マイク Korostelev, from Russia

'Life on the 辛勝する／優位', of two Nubian ibex at Zin 砂漠, イスラエル, by Amit Eshel, from イスラエル

'Alpine （危険などに）さらす', of an ibex in snow at the Vercors 地域の Natural Park, Rhone-Alpes, フラン by Luca Melcarne, from フラン

'Silence for the snake show', of grey-winged trumpeters watching a boa slither past at Guiana Space 中心, between Kourou and Sinnamary, French Guiana, by Hadrien Lalague, from フラン

Kath Mor an, chairwoman of the 裁判官ing パネル盤, 述べるd the winning photo as 'luminescent'.

She said: 'To see a horseshoe crab so vibrantly alive in its natural habitat, in such a hauntingly beautiful way, was astonishing.

'We are looking at an 古代の 種類, 高度に 危うくするd, and also 批判的な to human health.'

Mr Ballesta is only the second person to have won the 競争 twice in its 59 year history.

His first award was in 2021 for a 発射 of 偽装する grouper fish in a 渦巻く of eggs and sperm in Fakarava, French Polynesia.

The Young 野性生物 Photographer of the Year award went to Carmel Bechler from イスラエル, for snapping several barn フクロウs in a hollowed-out 固める／コンクリート building by a 道端.

He used his family's car as a hide with long （危険などに）さらす times to 逮捕（する） the light 追跡するs of passing traffic.

The 17-year-old said: 'I hope to 株 with my photography that the beauty of the natural world is all around us, even in places where we least 推定する／予想する it to be - we just need to open our 注目する，もくろむs and our minds.'

The winning photographs were selected from 49,957 初めの 入ること／参加（者）s from 95 countries and were 発表するd at an awards 儀式 in South Kensington on Tuesday.

の中で the 17 other 部類 勝利者s was a beached orca in the Netherlands photographed by Lennart Verheuvel which was later 設立する to be 栄養失調の and sick, likely from PCB 汚染.

'The 塀で囲む of wonder', of an ornamental tree trunk spider 妨げるs its prey from escaping at Nallur 遺産 Tamarind Grove, Karnataka, India, by Vihaan Talya Vikas, from India

'The tadpole 祝宴', of toad tadpoles feast on a dead fledgling sparrow at Ojen, Malaga, Spain, by Juan Jesus Gonzalez Ahumada, from Spain

'フクロウs' road house', at Hof HaSharon, イスラエル, by 17-year-old Carmel Bechler, from イスラエル, won the Young 野性生物 Photographer of the Year prize

直面する of the forest', of a lowland tapir in Tapirai, Sao Paulo, Brazil, India, by Vishnu Gopal, from India

'Lights fantastic', of a night sky and a forest illuminated with fireflies at Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India, by Sriram Murali, from India

The unprotected', contestants lining up to have their bobcats 重さを計るd in the March 2022 West Texas Big Bobcat Contest, by Karine Aigner, from the US

'Last gasp', of a beached orca at Cadzand-Bad, Zeeland, the Netherlands by Lennart Verheuvel, from the Netherlands

'Birds of the midnight sun', of kittiwake chicks illuminated in an abandoned factory at Vardo, Troms og Finnmark, Norway, by Knut-Sverre Horn, from Norway

'The dead river', he 汚染するd Ciliwung river winding through Indonesia's 資本／首都, Jakarta, by Joan de la Malla, from Spain

'The art of courtship', of a gannet pair at Noss 国家の Nature Reserve, Shetland, by Rachel Bigsby, from the UK

'The 観光旅行，事業 脅迫者', of the path of a new cross-country tourist 鉄道 line at Paamul, Quintana Roo, Mexico, by Fernando Constantino Martinez Belmar, from Mexico

'Last breath of autumn', of a fungus 解放（する）ing its spores in the forest at 開始する Olympus, Pieria, Greece, by Agorastos Papatsanis, from Greece

Horseshoe crabs have 生き残るd for more than 100 million years, but they now 直面する habitat 破壊 and overfishing as they are caught for food and for their blue 血, which is used in ワクチンs.

毒（薬）ing from this 産業の 化学製品 is ありふれた in European waters にもかかわらず the 化学製品 存在 banned １０年間s ago. Its unique 所有物／資産／財産s mean it builds up through the food chain.

Agorastos Papatsanis 明らかにする／漏らすd how the parasol mushroom 解放（する）s its spores for them to drift on 空気／公表する 現在のs in search of new places to grow in his home country of Greece, on 開始する Olympus, 逮捕（する）ing the colourful refraction of light t hrough the rain.

An illuminated forest in Tamil Nadu, India, won the Behaviour: Invertebrates award, with Sriram Murali showcasing how fireflies attract mates by 連合させるing 50 （危険などに）さらすs of 19 seconds with 16 minutes of the beetles' bioluminescence.

Two Nubian ibex locking horns in a cliff-味方する 衝突／不一致 in イスラエル was 逮捕（する）d by Amit Eshel as he crept up to the 戦う／戦いing males, which 押し通す their 長，率いるs together during the mating season in a 競争 of physical prowess.

Dr Doug Gurr, director of the Natural History Museum, said: 'Whilst 奮起させるing 絶対の awe and wonder, this year's winning images 現在の 説得力のある 証拠 of our 衝撃 on nature - both 肯定的な and 消極的な.

'全世界の 約束s must 転換 to 活動／戦闘 to turn the tide on nature's 拒絶する／低下する.'

Next year, the Natural History Museum will celebrate the 60th 周年記念日 of the 野性生物 Photographer of the Year award with new prizes and 権利放棄 料金s for more than 100 countries. Submissions are open from October 16.