Wildlife Photographer of the Year is one of the most prestigious competitions of its type in world photography.
Started in 1964, the competition is now organised by London's Natural History Museum.
An exhibition of the best images opens at the South Kensington institution on Friday. Next year's competition starts taking entries from Monday.
This year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year winning image showcases two beautiful golden snub-nosed monkeys set among the temperate forest in which they live.
The Golden Couple Marsel van Oosten, The Netherlands
Animal Portraits category winner - Two snub-nosed monkeys are pictured resting on a stone and staring intently into the distance. What are they looking at, and what are they thinking?
It turns out they are watching an altercation between members of their troop.
This image of apparent serenity versus commotion is the overall winner of the 2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, announced at a gala dinner at London's Natural History Museum.
The picture was taken by Marsel van Oosten in China's Qinling Mountains.
The Dutchman had to follow the troop for many days to understand the animals' dynamics and predict their behaviour. His goal was to show in one shot the beautiful hair on a male snub-nosed monkey's back, and the creature's blue face.
Marsel's perseverance eventually paid off with this exquisite composition that includes a smaller female behind.
Bed of seals by Cristobal Serrano, Spain
Animals In Their Environment category winner - Cristobal Serrano from Spain took this shot of Crabeater Seals resting on an ice floe off the Antarctic Peninsula with a drone.
Crabeater seals are gregarious, and if space allows they will cluster on ice floes in their hundreds. The seals are dependent on the ice – they rest and breed on top of it, but also feed on the krill that shelter underneath.
Part of the ice was splattered red with their excrement – the digested remains of their favourite food, krill.
Hellbent by David Herasimtschuk, USA
Behaviour, Amphibians and Reptiles category winner - A hungry Hellbender Salamander holds a Northern Water Snake in its jaws in this photo taken in Tennessee's Tellico River.
David was thrilled to catch a battle between these two unlikely foes. ‘I’ve seen hellbenders display an array of behaviours, but this was by far the most remarkable,’ he says. Don't worry when its attacker repositioned its bite, the snake pushed free and escaped.
Hellbenders are the largest salamanders in the USA and are among the most endangered. Usually they hunt for small prey, such as crayfish, insects and eggs, so a northern water snake is an unexpected choice.
Blood Thirsty by Thomas P Peschak, Germany / South Africa
Behaviours Birds category winner - This bizarre scene is a sharp-beaked ground finch pecking away at the flight feathers of a Nazca booby. With scarce food alternatives, it had resorted to drinking blood to survive.
Working on a climate change story, Thomas had secured a rare permit to land on Wolf Island. Encircled by steep cliffs, with no permanent water and little rainfall, Wolf Island is a difficult place to live. While the boobies can fish in the ocean, the finches are limited to a scant supply of seeds and insects. To survive they drink the blood of the Nazca boobies – a behaviour that may have evolved from feeding on parasites in their feathers
Mud-rolling mud-dauber by Georgina Steytler, Australia
Behaviour: Invertebrates category winner - Georgina Steytler took this picture of Mud-dauber Wasps in Walyormouring Nature Reserve in Western Australia by getting down to their level. In the mud. For a good angle, she lay in the mud, then pre-focused on a likely flight path and began shooting continuously.
The female mud-dauber wasps use the mud balls to build their nests. Collecting them into clusters, they then carve chambers inside the balls into which the females lay their eggs. Before closing each one up, the wasps insert the paralysed bodies of orb-weaving spiders as food for their larvae when they hatch.
Kuhirwa Mourns Her Baby by Ricardo Núñez Montero, Spain
Behaviour: Mammals category winner - Kuhirwa, a young female member of the Nkuringo mountain gorilla family in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, would not give up on her dead baby.
What Ricardo first thought to be a bundle of roots turned out to be the tiny corpse. Forced by the low light to work with a wide aperture and a very narrow depth of field, he chose to focus on the body rather than Kuhirwa’s face. Guides told him that she had given birth during bad weather and that the baby probably died of cold. At first Kuhirwa had cuddled and groomed the body, moving its legs and arms up and down and carrying it piggyback like the other mothers. Weeks later, she started to eat what was left of the corpse, behaviour that the guide had only ever seen once before.
Kuhirwa’s initial reactions to her bereavement echo responses to death seen in other species. From elephants stroking the bones of dead family members to dolphins who try to keep dead companions afloat, there is an abundance of credible evidence that many animals –ranging from primates and cetaceans to cats, dogs, rabbits, horses and some birds –behave in ways that visibly express grief, though individual reactions vary. Kuhirwa’s behaviour can be understood as mourning, without the need to speculate about her thoughts.
Desert Relic by Jen Guyton, Germany / USA
Plants and Fungi category winner - The Welwitschia Mirabilis is a plant which is endemic to the Namib desert in Namibia and Southern Angola. Named after Friedrich Welwitsch who "discovered" the plant in 1859, some of the specimen are estimated to be between 1000 and 1500 years old.
Growing from the base, it is comprised of just two slow-growing leaves that creep over the desert throughout the lifetime of the plant. As the centuries take their toll, the leaf ends fray and split taking on the appearance of multiple leaves.
Jen had trekked all day across the Namib Desert looking for the perfect welwitschia plant to photograph before finally spotting this ragged-leaved subject. Adopting a low, wide angle, she caught the plant’s architecture and vibrant tones against the expansive landscape, just as the Sun was going down.
Night Flight by Michael Patrick O’Neill, USA
Underwater category winner - This is a flying fish captured in the lens of American photographer Michael Patrick O'Neill. It was taken during a night dive off Florida's Palm Beach. These fish are very timid during the day but at night are easier to approach. Michael tried various camera and light settings to get this other worldly impression of the animal.
Flying fish are thought to have evolved this remarkable gliding ability to escape predators, of which they have many.
Their streamlined torpedo shape helps them gather enough underwater speed to break the surface, and by holding their long, pointed pectoral fins out stiffly, they can glide in the air for several hundred metres.
Crossing Paths by Marco Colombo, Italy
Urban Wildlife category winner - This chance encounter with a rare Mersican Brown Bear was captured when Marco drove through his village late one evening. With just seconds to spare he managed to photograph the female through the windscreen before it slipped into the shadows.
Marsican bears are an isolated and with only 40 to 50 individuals remaining this bear is critically endangered.
Windsweep by Orlando Fernandez Miranda, Spain
Earth's Environments category winner - The top of a high dune on Namibia's desert Skeleton Coast, where mounds of wind-sculpted sand merge with crashing Atlantic waves. Look closer and you will see the fog that often forms in this region of Africa. As the fog drifts inland it delivers life-sustaining moisture to plants and insects.
The Vision by Jan van der Greef, The Netherlands
Black and White category winner - Jan took this mesmerising shot from the garden of his hotel. He had observed the Hummingbirds rotating around this plant's spines, and as they did they closed their tails, which had the appearance of a cross.
The Bearded Mountaineer Hummingbird spends its day feeding on sweet, nectar-rich plants. Unlike the hummingbird, the showy, dramatic torch lily seen here is not native to the region, but has become a popular food source for these hummingbirds. They are attracted by the delicious nectar of its bright red flowers.
The Ice Pool by Cristobal Serrano, Spain
Creative Visions category winner - To reveal the beauty of this spectacular ice carving, Cristobal used a low-noise drone, flying it high so as not to disturb the Crabeater seals. The aerial viewpoint showed a heart-shaped pool in the iceberg’s centre.
The Crabeater Seal is found on the ice of Antarctica, but surprisingly they don't eat crabs! The seals primarily eat krill, tiny crustaceans that play a large part in the Antarctic ecosystem.
The sad clown by Joan de la Malla, Spain
Wildlife Photojournalism category winner - This heart-breaking image of a street monkey was taken by Joan de la Malla on the island of Java, Indonesia.
It is a long-tailed macaque called Timbul, that has been forced to wear a clown's mask. "It is painful and the macaque has its hand up to try to remove it," says Joan.
Macaques like Timbul live in awful conditions, deprived of the social relationships they need to thrive. They work many hours, dancing and riding bikes, movements that are unnatural and uncomfortable. Animal charities are working to enforce legislation that makes it illegal to take young monkeys from the wild or to trade in them without a permit.
The Spanish photographer has been working with animal welfare groups to try to get this type of street performance shut down. In the last couple of weeks, this has happened; and this particular animal, known as Timbul, is heading back to the wild.
Gunning for the Jaguar by Alejandro Prieto, Mexico
Wildlife Photojournalist Award: Photo Story category winner - Alejandro’s photo story is a sensitive and thoughtful portrayal of the jaguars of Mexico and their enduring struggle to survive.
Jaguars are at constant risk from human activity where they live in South America and Mexico. These enigmatic animals are being assaulted from all sides – poaching, habitat loss, persecution and conflict with ranchers. The narrative can only change if humans stop and allow jaguars to make use of their extraordinary ability to adapt.
Mother defender by Javier Aznar González de Rueda, Spain
Wildlife Photographer Portfolio Award category winner - Javier Aznar González de Rueda, another Spanish photographer, entered a series of images, with this one featuring the Alchisme treehopper. The picture, taken in the El Jardín de los Sueños reserve in Ecuador, shows a mother guarding her nymphs.
A treehopper will lay her eggs on the underside of a nightshade leaf and then cover them with a thin secretion. Once the eggs hatch, they develop through five nymphal stages, differing in size, colour and ornamentation.
Elephants at Twilight by Frans Lanting, The Netherlands
Wildlife Photographer of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award - One evening during Botswana’s dry season, I waded into a water hole to capture a shimmering reflection of a gathering of elephants at twilight, with a full moon suspended in a luminous pink sky. The image is my homage to the primeval qualities of southern Africa’s wilderness, the grandeur of elephants, and the precious nature of water in a land of thirst.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year calls on photographers worldwide to put nature in the frame. Whether you're young, old, professional or amateur. Entries for next years competition are open from next week. Find the details here