Who is your Wildlife Photographer of the Year? Cast your vote now
From a flock of flamingos to a couple of play-fighting bear cubs, there truly are some stunning photographs in the shortlist for this year's People's Choice award.
The might and majesty of nature photography is fully on display in the shortlist for this year's Niveen People's Choice Award — part of the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition for 2026.
The judges picked 100 photographs from more than 60,000 entries to be shown in an exhibition. The photographs below made the shortlist and now it's your turn to decide which is the winner. Will it be a Polar bear family resting after an arduous trek in Canada that takes the crown, or a cellar spider complete with a horde of eggs, photographed in a house in Southampton, of all places?
It is up to you to decide. The entries, shown below, are some of the best wildlife photographs of recent times — each capturing a small glimpse of a different part of our natural world today.
Voting closes at 2pm on March 18. You can visit the Natural History Museum's website to cast your vote.
This photo by Francesco Russo shows rows of solar panels in Cambridgeshire stretching across the land, in between pastures, looking somewhat aquatic in nature.
'Hold me tightly' by Dvir Barkay from the USA shows a brown-throated three-toed sloth cradling her young as it rains. It was taken at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica.
No matter how hard any of us resist it, we must at some point leave the nest. Such is the case for these kestrels, preparing to take the leap in Dortmund, Germany. It look them nearly a week to pluck up the courage, says the photographer Peter Lindel.
It was in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, that Adam Oswell captured this striking image of a mountain of confiscated snares. This is the work of Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers and volunteers who wanted to show the urgency of this issue in Africa.
After a long journey across the Hudson Bay in Canada this polar bear family needed a rest. Christopher Paetkau captured the moment.
If you're not a fan of spiders avert your eyes, especially if you live in England — specifically Southampton — where this photo of a cellar spider and its eggs was taken in Thomas Hunt, the photographer's, sister's room.
Another photographer from the UK, Will Nicholls, took this picture of bear cubs play fighting in Jasper National Park, Canada.
Prasenjeet Yadav titled this image of a rare tiger in Similipal Tiger Reserve, Odisha, India, 'Dark Night'.
A sarus crane feeds its one-week-old chick in the rice paddies in Huai Chorakhe Mak Non-Hunting Area in Buri Ram, Thailand. Photographed by Ponlawat Thaipinnarong.
In this gruesome image, a sika deer carries the severed head of a rival male in his horns. Kohei Nagira took the phoro on Notsuke Peninsula in Hokkaido, Japan.
Nima Sarikhani, from the UK, took this photo of a polar bear cub on the Svalbard archipelago. It was likely the last photo taken of this animal before it was shot to death by police, because they thought it was aggressive.
Lalith Ekanayake was in the right place at the right time to capture this lion-tailed macaque and its babe in Valparai in the Western Ghats, India.
A sun bear takes refuge from the rain in a furnace. Mogens Trolle captured the exact moment that a butterfly settled on its snout in the Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand.
What a plume! Lior Berman's photograph of an elusive rufous-vented ground cuckoo feeding on a cicada in the rainforest of Costa Rica is certainly colourful. The bird had been following a column of army ants, intent on feeding on insects fleeing their path.
A pangolin pup (known as a pangopup) at a rescue centre in South Africa, captured by Lance van de Vyver.
In 'Ready to Pounce', Joseph Ferraro's shot shows an ambush nymph (which typically measure between 6mm and 8mm in length) waiting in a flower for prey in Ferndale, Michigan, USA.
A pair of cuties: A brushtail possum copying its mother in Miena, Tasmania. Photograph by: Charles Davis.
A young lynx playing with its food, captured by Josef Stefan in Torre de Juan Abad, Cuidad Real, Spain.
Chris Gug took this stunning snap of a juvenile swimming crab hitching a ride on a jellyfish's back in Lembeh Strait, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
This picture, titled 'Couple's Camouflage' by Artur Tomaszek, shows a miniscule male sat on the abdomen of a very well-camouflaged female broad-headed bark spider. They are in Khao Phra Thaeo Non-hunting Area, Phuket, Thailand.
Is there anything more beautiful than a busy hummingbird? This spatuletail hummingbird was shot by Dustin Chen from the UK while he was bird watching at Huembo Lodge in Pomacochas, Peru.
An otter snacking on some catfish in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Photograph by: Daniela Anger.
Cecile Gabillon captured this superpod of spinner dolphins herding lanternfish towards the surface while she was freediving in the Pacific Ocean, near Costa Rica.
This is Alexandre Brisson's photograph of a group of flamingoes in Walvis Bay, Namibia.
