A deer carrying the rotting head of its vanquished foe and a playful lynx shortlisted for Wildlife Photographer of the Year Nuveen People’s Choice Award
Here are the 24 images shortlisted for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Nuveen People’s Choice Award 2026.
In “Never-Ending Struggle,” Kohei Nagira captured a sika deer carrying the severed head of a rival male. This deer won a fight over a female but didn’t manage to untangle his antlers from his opponent’s. A local fisherman says this deer dragged its rival’s body for several days before finally tearing off its head.(Image credit: Kohei Nagira / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
Stunning images showing a deer carrying a rival’s rotting head and a lynx playing with its food are among the shortlisted entries for an annual wildlife photography competition’s people’s choice award.
Other image highlights include a “superpod” of spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) driving their food to the ocean surface, and a tiger (Panthera tigris) with a rare genetic condition resulting in wide, dark stripes.
Two heartbreaking images of polar bears (Urus maritimus) are also among the shortlist: One photo shows a mother and her three cubs napping on the bare ground in Canada’s summer heat, and the other captures a cub on a hunting trip in Svalbard that took a tragic turn when the cub and its mother roamed too close to a human settlement.
Voting closes March 18, and the winning photograph will be announced March 25. It will be displayed along with 100 images from last year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in an exhibition at the Natural History Museum, London open 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.
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In “Flying Rodent,” Josef Stefan captured a young lynx playfully throwing a rodent into the air.(Image credit: Josef Stefan / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Swirling Superpod,” Cecile Gabillon captured a huge group of spinner dolphins herding lanternfish toward the surface of the Pacific Ocean.(Image credit: Cecile Gabillon / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Above and Below,” Charles Davis captured a brushtail possum joey and its mother mirroring each other while climbing a branch.(Image credit: Charles Davis / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Hold Me Tightly,” Dvir Barkay captured a brown-throated three-toed sloth mother cradling her young in her arms to shelter it from the rain.(Image credit: Dvir Barkay / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Along for the Ride,” Chris Gug captured a juvenile swimming crab hitching a ride on a jellyfish in the Lembeh Strait, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.(Image credit: Chris Gug / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Dark Knight, Prasenjeet Yadav captured a rare tiger with wide, dark stripes wandering a tiger reserve in India.(Image credit: Prasenjeet Yadav / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Into the Furnace,” Mogens Trolle captured a sun bear sheltering from the rain in a furnace as a butterfly settled on its snout.(Image credit: Mogens Trolle / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Ready to Pounce,” Joseph Ferraro captured an ambush bug nymph remaining motionless in a flower, waiting for prey to wander within reach.(Image credit: Joseph Ferraro / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Precious Cargo,” Thomas Hunt captured a cellar spider, sometimes known as a daddy long-legs, carrying a ball of precious eggs in its mouth.(Image credit: Thomas Hunt / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Beak-to-Beak,” Ponlawat Thaipinnarong captured a sarus crane parent sharing an intimate and moving moment with its one-week-old chick.(Image credit: Ponlawat Thaipinnarong / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “A Fragile Future,” Lance van de Vyver captured a pangolin pup nestling into the warmth of a blanket at a rescue centre in South Africa.(Image credit: Lance van de Vyver / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “The Final Portait,” Nima Sarikhani captured a polar bear cub accompanying its mother on an unsuccessful hunting trip.(Image credit: Nima Sarikhani / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “A Fleeting Moment,” Lior Berman captured a rufous-vented ground cuckoo plucking up a cicada in the rainforest in Costa Rica.(Image credit: Lior Berman / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Portrait of Extinction,” Adam Oswell captured Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers standing before a mountainous pile of confiscated snares.(Image credit: Adam Oswell / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Beauty Against the Beast,” Alexandre Brisson captured a group of flamingos against a stark industrial backdrop of power lines.(Image credit: Alexandre Brisson / Wildlife Photography of the Year)
In “Couple’s Camouflage,” Artur Tomaszek captured a tiny male sitting on the abdomen of a well-camouflaged female broad-headed bark spider.(Image credit: Artur Tomaszek / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Uniqueness,” Daniela Anger captured a leucistic otter feeding on a catfish in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.(Image credit: Daniela Anger / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Marvellous Spatuletail,” Dustin Chen captured a male marvellous spatuletail hummingbird showing off its long tail while it feeds on flowers.(Image credit: Dustin Chen / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Bond in Motion,” Lalith Ekanayake captured a lion-tailed macaque carrying its infant in the Western Ghats, India.(Image credit: Lalith Ekanayake / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Solar Waves,” Francesco Russo captured rows of solar panels stretching across the landscape like ripples on a water’s surface.(Image credit: Francesco Russo / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “A Leap into Adulthood,” Peter Lindel captured three young kestrels preparing to leap from their nest to a nearby beam.(Image credit: Peter Lindel / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
In “Dancing in the Headlights,” Will Nicholls captured a pair of young bear cubs play-fighting in the middle of a road.(Image credit: Will Nicholls / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
Sascha is a U.K.-based staff writer at Live Science. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Southampton in England and a master’s degree in science communication from Imperial College London. Her work has appeared in The Guardian and the health website Zoe. Besides writing, she enjoys playing tennis, bread-making and browsing second-hand shops for hidden gems.
NOTE – This article was originally published in Live Science and can be viewed here
