Wild mammals
Wildlife photo awards showcase elephant grief
A poignant snapshot of an elephant holding a deceased calf won top honors as the annual competition revealed rare moments across the animal kingdom.
Reported by BBC News · · 2 min read
Italian photographer Federico Veronesi won the 2026 Wildlife Photographer of the Year title with a striking image captured in Namibia. While following wildlife tracks through the Huab River Valley, he noticed unusual drag marks in a dry riverbed and discovered an adult female elephant transporting a deceased calf between her trunk and tusk.
Although Veronesi initially assumed the female was the mother of the calf, researchers working in the region indicated that this remained uncertain. Scientists identified the elephant as an individual that had lost her own young several years prior and had earlier been observed retrieving young that belonged to other females.
Veronesi described the scene as the most dramatic and moving moment of his twenty-year photography career, stating that it offered a glimpse into the emotional depth, personal relationships, and memories of wild animals. The contest exhibition welcomes visitors at the Natural History Museum starting Friday, October 16, 2026.
Diverse species captured across the globe
Other awarded entries highlighted diverse wildlife across varied environments. In Zimbabwe, young photographer Oscar Whitfield documented a dung beetle pushing a dung ball uphill through sand while trailed by flies. In Kenya, an infrared camera recorded a juvenile bull elephant dousing zebras beside a waterhole. Along south-west England, rising spring sea temperatures have caused common octopus sightings to surge, resulting in a prize-winning picture of an octopus peering from behind kelp.
The contest also highlighted rare moments of animal behavior and reproduction. In Japan, photographer Wu used dim red lighting and a fisheye lens to record the mating rituals of Abbott's moray eels, which organizers noted had probably never been captured on camera. Meanwhile, photographer Isak Pretorius captured two shoebill storks gathering nesting supplies, a bird whose wild population is estimated at under 5,300 breeding adults.
Further awarded scenes featured adaptable wildlife in urban and natural landscapes. These included monitor lizards thriving in Bangkok, coyotes coexisting with residents in San Francisco, a California newt laying eggs in a local pond, and a whale shark investigating illuminated fishing nets in Indonesia.
