[imagesource: Brent Stirton/Wildlife Photographer of the Year]

That above is Ndakasi, a mountain gorilla dying in the arms of her caretaker, Andre Bauma.

Bauma, a park ranger at Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, found Ndakasi as a baby clutching onto her dead mother. He then held on to the much-loved gorilla as she passed away last year.

Bauma said that getting to know Ndakasi between these two embraces had “helped me to understand the connection between humans and great apes and why we should do everything in our power to protect them”.

This poignant moment, titled “Ndakasi’s passing”, was captured by Brent Stirton, a Durbanite now working as an award-winning Senior Photographer for Getty Images in New York.

 

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The heart-wrenching image was recently celebrated as a winning shot in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

The much coveted grand title award for 2022 went to American Karine Aigner for her photo, “The big buzz”:

Per CNN, it shows a ball of buzzing male cactus bees intent on mating with the sole female in the scrum under the scorching Texas sun:

Roz Kidman Cox, chair of the judging panel, described the close-up as “rolling straight into the picture.”

“The sense of movement and intensity is shown at bee-level magnification and transforms what are little cactus bees into big competitors for a single female,” she said in a news release Tuesday.

Aigner’s “bee-level” close-up displays the desperation of a depreciating species threatened by climate change, pesticides and habitat loss, the press release adds.

In the competition’s 58-year history, Aigner marks the fifth woman to be awarded the grand title award.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London, with director Doug Gurr commending the photographers for offering “unforgettable glimpses into the lives of wild species, sharing unseen details, fascinating behaviours and frontline reporting on the climate and biodiversity crises”.

Another image that you’ve likely seen of polar bears pottering around a deserted house also made it into the fold.

“House of bears” by Dmitry Kokh shows a haunting scene of polar bears shrouded in fog at the long-deserted settlement on Kolyuchin Island in Russia:

Winners were selected in 19 different categories, including three Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards.

The winner of that category was 16-year-old Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn from Thailand for a Bryde’s whale showing off its bristly baleen, called “The beauty of baleen”:

“Heavenly flamingos,” photographed high in Bolivia’s Andes, Salar de Uyuni, shows the world’s largest salt pan and was snapped by Japanese photographer Junji Takasago:

Tony Wu captured the electrifying reproductive dance of a giant sea star in Kinko Bay, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, titling it “Shooting star”:

“The dying lake” was taken by Daniel Núñez to raise awareness of the impact of contamination on Lake Amatitlán, in Guatemala:

Last but not least, “The bat-snatcher” by Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar shows the incredible moment a Yucatan rat snake snapped up a bat in Kantemo, Quintana Roo, Mexico:

For more magical winning shots of nature and wildlife, head to the Natural History Museum of London.

[sources:cnn&nhm]