Italian photographer Federico Veronesi wins Wildlife Photographer of the Year with 'heartbreaking' image of elephant carrying her dead calf
An adult elephant lifts the limp body of a dead calf with its trunk in Namibia's Huab River Valley — the female is thought to have previously carried the young of other females, not only her own.Two shoebill storks carry nesting material across a flower-dotted swamp as the winning images from this year's record-breaking competition prepare to go on public display in London on Friday 16 October.A coyote walks a narrow dirt trail through Bernal Heights Park, with San Francisco and the bay visible behind.A dead puma suspended from a wire fence across open grassland in Argentine Patagonia. Federico Veronesi's winning black and white photograph — chosen from a record 65,403 entries submitted from 121 countries — shows a…An elephant sprays water at a group of zebras and giraffes in a scene typical of the African wildlife Federico Veronesi has spent 20 years photographing.A large bumblebee beside white-flowered plants, as the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year prize went to 14-year-old British photographer Oscar Whitfield for his image of a dung beetle in Zimbabwe.
Federico Veronesi's black and white image, titled 'The Aftermath', shows a female elephant in Namibia's Huab River Valley with her dead calf wedged between her tusk and trunk. Jury chair Kathy Moran called it an emotional 'gut punch' and proof that animals have cognition. The winning image was chosen from a record-breaking 65,403 entries from 121 countries. The competition is developed by the Natural History Museum in London, which is opening an exhibition of the photographs to the public later this week.
Experts say the behaviour depicted — elephants carrying their dead — may reflect grief or attempts to understand death, seen in both African and Asian species.
British photographer Oscar Whitfield, who was 14 and living in Zimbabwe when he took his picture, won Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year with a striking black and white shot of a dung beetle.
Five British photographers won category prizes, including James Lewin for his shot of a young bull elephant spraying zebra at a Kenyan waterhole.
