See the 2022 Wildlife Photographer Award winning images

Polar bears circling around a deserted house, magic mushrooms on Mount Olympus and the final moments of a much-loved mountain gorilla are just a few of the winning images from the 2022 Wildlife Photographer contest.

But the honor of receiving the coveted prize of the grand title of the competition for 2022 goes to American Karine Aigner for her photo called “The big buzz”. The extraordinary scene depicts a ball of male cactus bees buzzing with the intention of mating with the only female in the scrum — when rugby players band together to gain control of the ball — against a backdrop of scorching sands on a Texas ranch.

Roz Kidman Cox, chairman of the jury, described the close-up as “going right into the picture”.

“The sense of movement and intensity is shown in the magnification of the level of the bees and transforms what are small cactus bees into big competitors for a single female,” she said in a press release on Tuesday.

Aigner’s “bee-level” close-up shows the desperation of a depreciating species threatened by climate change, pesticides and habitat loss, the press release adds.

She is the fifth woman to win the grand title in the competition’s 58-year history, organizers said.

Natural History Museum Director Doug Gurr praised the photographers for offering “unforgettable glimpses into the life of wildlife, sharing unseen details, fascinating behaviors and first-rate reporting on climate and biodiversity crises.”

Winners were selected in 19 different categories, including three Young Wildlife Photographer awards, the grand title of which went to 16-year-old Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn, from Thailand, for a Bryde’s Whale portraying a contrast of dark skin, pink gums and bristly fins. in the upper jaw, called “The beauty of fins”.

The Wildlife Photographer is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London, where the images will be on display from Friday.

Source: CNN Brasil

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