This year’s winning image from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2019 competition is a hilarious photo of a marmot startled by a fox. The prestigious award is given out every year by the Natural History Museum, London. This year, the comical snap of the exchange between the two animals took the grand prize and has since been described as being taken at the “perfect moment.”
The winning picture was taken by Yongqing Bao of China and is officially titled “The Moment.” A competition spokesperson described it as: “A powerful frame of both humor and horror, it captures the drama and intensity of nature.”
Roz Kidman Cox, chair of the judging panel, added:
Photographically, it is quite simply the perfect moment. The expressive intensity of the postures holds you transfixed, and the thread of energy between the raised paws seems to hold the protagonists in perfect balance. Images from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are rare enough, but to have captured such a powerful interaction between a Tibetan fox and a marmot – two species key to the ecology of this high-grassland region – is extraordinary.
The winning photo triumphs among over 48,000 competitors, with all of the images submitted by photographers from 100 countries globally.
Some of the other entries included a hummingbird mid-flight and a macro shot of spider. See some highlights below.
Images used with permission of the National History Museum.