John Chan / Two male Southern Pacific rattlesnakes (Crotalus oreganus helleri) fighting during mating season. This behaviour is known as a "combat dance", and is used to determine dominance and the right to mate...

Remi Masson / Common toads (Bufo bufo) mating surrounded by strings of toadspawn. Ain, Alps, France. First prize in the category "The Underwater World, GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 competiti...

Claudio Contreras / Prickly pear (Opuntia sp.) growing on coastline, Socorro Island, Revillagigedo Archipelago National Park (Socorro Islands), Pacific Ocean, Western Mexico, November, Honorary Mention in the third natio...

Ingo Arndt / Aerial view of the "American Falls / Horseshoe Falls", Niagara Falls, North America

Ingo Arndt / Aerial view of "American Falls / Horseshoe Falls", Niagara Falls, North America

Ingo Arndt / Aerial view of the "American Falls", Niagara Falls, New York, USA

Ingo Arndt / "CTD" (instrument for collecting water samples from all water depths) at work 50 km from the ice floe base. ISPOL (ICE Station Polarstern) Expedition 2004/2005 from Alfred Wegener Institute; Bremerhav...

Ingo Arndt / Graphic from "ice thickness profile" of the (ISPOL) ice floe. ISPOL (ICE Station Polarstern) Expedition 2004/2005 from Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, Germany. The Icebreaker Polarstern was dri...

Ingo Arndt / Researcher preparing "Bongo" net for sampling zooplankton on Expedition ship, Polarstern, Weddell Sea, Antarctica

Thomas Hinsche/ BIA / White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) flying, Poland

Marcos Baumann/ BIA / Speckled Teal (Anas flavirostris) flying, Valparaiso, Chile

Thomas Hinsche/ BIA / Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) pair fighting, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

Nick Saunders/ BIA / Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) male in courtship display, Saskatchewan, Canada

Thomas Hinsche/ BIA / Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) pair fighting, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

Gerrit Vyn / Ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) displaying neck "ruff". The ruff is most often displayed once a female is present. Okanogan County, Washington. April.

Alex Mustard / Diver swimming over the stern gun turret of the 330ft long Russian frigate 356, the "MV Keith Tibbetts". The ship was built in 1984 and sunk in 1996. Buccaneer Reef, Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands. Carib...

Benoit Stichelbaut / Large waves crash into Le Guilvinec during Storm 'Petra', Finistere, Brittany, France. 5th February 2014. France, Bretagne, Finistere, Le Guilvinec, Tempete "Petra", le 5 fevrier 2014.

Benoit Stichelbaut / Massive wave crashing into Lesconil during Storm 'Petra', Finistere, Brittany, France. 5th February 2014. France, Bretagne, Finistere, Lesconil, Tempete "Petra", le 5 fevrier 2014.

Chris Gomersall / 2020VISION / Mixed flock of Northern gannets (Morus bassanus) and gulls (Larus) feeding in the wake of the pelagic trawler "Charisma." Shetland Isles. October 2011.

Gerrit Vyn / Ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) male displaying neck "ruff". The ruff is most often displayed once a female has been attracted by the males drumming and is present. Okanogan County, Washington, USA Ap...

Nick Upton / 2020VISION / Queen Hornet (Vespa crabro) feeding on Knotweed flower (Persicaria bistorta "superba") in garden, Wiltshire, England, UK, May . Property released.

Bryan and Cherry Alexander / Gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) in blowing sand with the "Ocean Nova" anchored beyond. Saunders Island, Falkland Islands, 2009.

Nick Upton / 2020VISION / Two juvenile Common / Eurasian cranes (Grus grus) "Pepper" and "Trinny" released by the Great Crane Project onto the Somerset Levels and Moors, standing alert in a meadow, with Autumn Hawkbit (Leontod...

Mark Hamblin / 2020VISION / Hen harrier (Circus cyaneus) female hovering over moorland, Glen Tanar Estate, Deeside, Scotland, UK, June. Photographer quote: "I'd been in the hide for over 5 hours when I heard the distant call of...

Mark Hamblin / 2020VISION / Mountain hare (Lepus timidus) in winter coat, running across snow, Cairngorms NP, Scotland, January 2010. Photographer quote: "After 4 hours of trudging through deep snow I was completely exhausted an...

Chris Gomersall / 2020VISION / Forestry workers with "forwarder" machine, removing felled timber from Dunwich Forest, Suffolk, UK, February 2011. Non-native Corsican pine trees planted in 1990 are gradually being removed by the For...

Andy Rouse / 2020VISION / Wild boar (Sus scrofa) piglet in woodland undergrowth, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK, March. Photographer quote: "Getting down and dirty with this wild boar piglet meant that I had to eat the fo...

Juergen Freund / Split level of dive boat "Seven Seas", coral reef and island, Komodo NP, Indonesia, August 2009.

Juergen Freund / Details of Thorny oyster (Spondylus varius) with "eyes" in its mantle edge near the shell, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea

Inaki Relanzon / Cliffs and sea-stacks on the coast of "El Hierro" Island. Canary Islands, February 2011.

Inaki Relanzon / "The Lovers" Baobabs (Adansonia grandidieri). Near Morondava, Madagascar, Africa, September 2010.

Juergen Freund / Young woman in "tree" yoga pose, looking out to sea. Daram Island, Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia, January 2010.

Danny Green / 2020VISION / Red deer (Cervus elaphus) hind with two Jackdaws (Corvus monedula) on her back, Richmond Park, London, England, UK, October. Photographer quote: "Everything in nature is connected. These two jackdaws...

Florian Möllers / Baby male Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) "Klauce" (4 months) in the arm of his mother "Kalema". Budongo Forest Reserve, Masindi, Uganda, Africa. December

Florian Möllers / Female Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) "Kalema" with her baby "Klauce", calling, hooting. Budongo Forest Reserve, Masindi, Uganda, Africa. December

Florian Möllers / House sparrow (Passer domesticus) perched on the fence of a construction site at the "Tacheles", Berlin, Germany, June

Daniel Heuclin / Rio Grande Cottonwood tree (Populus fremonti wislizenii) on a sand "pedestal" White Sands National Park. New-Mexico, USA, August 2009

Barrie Britton / Male Sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) displaying at lek - side view. Wyoming, USA. Picture taken during filming for BBC "Life" TV Series, April 2007

Barrie Britton / Male Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) displaying at lek. Wyoming, USA. Picture taken during filming for BBC "Life" TV Series, April 2007

Barrie Britton / Decorated bower of Vogelkop Bowerbird (Amblyornis inornata). Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua, Indonesia. Picture taken during filming for the BBC "Life" TV Series, September 2008

Barrie Britton / Male Vogelkop bowerbird (Amblyornis inornata) inspects the decorations outside his bower. Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua, Indonesia. Picture taken during filming for BBC "Life" TV Series, September 20...

Barrie Britton / Male Vogelkop bowerbird (Amblyornis inornata) outside his decorated bower. Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua, Indonesia. Picture taken during filming for BBC "Life" TV Series, September 2008

Barrie Britton / Scarlet ibis (Eudocimus ruber) in flight, Caroni Swamp, Trinidad. Picture taken during filming for BBC "Secrets of the Caribbean" TV Series, January 2006

Barrie Britton / Lesser flamingos (Phoenicopterus minor). Lake Bogoria, Kenya. Picture taken during filming for BBC "Life" TV Series, May 2008

Barrie Britton / Whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) in Bayinbuluke Swan Lake Nature Reserve. Xinjiang, China. Picture taken during filming of BBC "Wild China" TV Series, June 2006.

Barrie Britton / Sunset over winding river in Bayinbuluke Swan Lake Nature Reserve. Xinjiang, China. Picture taken during filming of BBC "Wild China" TV Series, June 2006.

Roberto Rinaldi / Wreck of crude oil super-tanker "Amoco Milford Haven", populated by shoals Swallowtail anthias (Anthias anthias) and Bogues (Boops boops). The tanker sank on April 14th, 1991 after three days of fire....

Roberto Rinaldi / Stern of crude oil super-tanker "Milford Haven", which sank on April 14th, 1991 after three days of fire. Genoa, Italy, 2007.

Bryan and Cherry Alexander / Tourists on icebreaker "Professor Multanovskiy" watching Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) in pack ice. Svalbard, Norway, 2004.

Floris van Breugel / Long exposure to capture star trails circling around the North Star, Polaris, at the "Racetrack," a remote desert playa (dry lake bed) in Death Valley National Park, famous for its mysterious moving r...

John Cancalosi / Blacktail Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) engaging in Jump-yip behavior - A strong arch of the back or "jump" followed by a shrill "yip" - Thought to occur when a predator has left the area and in...

Guy Edwardes / Sunrise over "The Belvedere" (Tuscan farmhouse) and the Val d'Orcia, San Quirico d'Orcia,Tuscany, Italy April 2010

Solvin Zankl / As soon as it entered the water the young Olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) struggles against the swell to swim away from the coast. The swimming frenzy lasts for approximately 48 hours...

Gerrit Vyn / Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) male in breeding plumage performing a "bubbling display"which is used in both courtship and aggressive territorial encounters. The male holds its head and tail and 2 ro...

Angelo Gandolfi / A wild Grey Wolf (Canis lupus) roaming on the outskirts of a village at night, Tuscany "Maremma" Italy.

Nick Upton / Flesh fly (Sarcophaga sp.) "bubbling" regurgitated stomach contents in order to increase the concentration of its food by evaporating excessive water content. Wiltshire, UK, September.

Martin Dohrn / Lionesses (Panthera leo) killing zebra, Masai Mara, Kenya. Image taken at night using thermal Camera technology without artificial lighting. Can only be used if National Geographic "Night of the Lio...

Jeff Rotman / Sandblasters searching and blowing a magnetic hit during the recovery of the shipwreck "Las Maravillas", a Spanish galleon sunk in 1658, Bahamas. 1987, Model released Model released.

Jeff Rotman / Lifting a cannon during the recovery of the shipwreck "Las Maravillas", a Spanish galleon sunk in 1658, Bahamas. 1987. Model released Model released.

Jerry Monkman / Man bouldering in "The Boulders" section of Pawtuckaway State Park, New Hampshire, USA, September 2008. Model released.

Philip Stephen / Fishing vessel "Harvester" and the "Jotun B" oil production platform. North Sea, May 2010.

Georgette Douwma / Blue-girdled angelfish (Pomacanthus navarchus) on the wreck "Kasi Maru", a Japanese merchant ship sunk in fifty feet of water off Munda in Ironbottom Sound during a World War II bombing raid July 1943...

Philip Stephen / "Beryl Bravo" oil platform blowing off gas, North Sea, March 2010.

Philip Stephen / Fishing vessel "Ocean Harvest" operating close to the "Beryl Alpha" production platform, 160 miles Northeast of Aberdeen, in the North Sea. March 2010.

Patricio Robles Gil / "Male Baja California / Peninsular pronghorn (Antilocapra americana peninsularis) vocalising, semicaptive breeding facility, Biosphere Reserva of El Vizcano, Baja, Mexico, Critically endangered subspe...

Wild Wonders of Europe / Sá / Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus) large male of 2.5 m length. Localy identified by Parque Natural da Madeira as "Metade". Areias, Deserta Grande, Desertas Islands, Madeira, Portugal, August...

Gerrit Vyn / Adult Red-necked Grebes (Podiceps grisegena) in breeding plumage performing "whinny-braying" duet in defense of territory. Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, July.

Wild Wonders of Europe / Sá / Entrance to "Furna da gua" cave, regularly visited by Monk Seals (Monachus monachus) Deserta Grande, Desertas Islands, Madeira, Portugal, August 2009

Angelo Gandolfi / Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) in flight over the "dehesa", typical Extremadura pasture, with regularly spaced trees.

Wild Wonders of Europe / Relanzón / Arch stone in "Los hervideros", South West Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain, March 2009 WWE BOOK PLATE.

Jack Dykinga / Patterns on canyon walls with "tumbleweed" wedged between strata of a slot canyon on the Navajo Indian Reservation, Antelope Canyon, Arizona, USA

Jack Dykinga / California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) flowering between the "ribs" of a dead Saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) Barry M. Goldwater Range, Arizona, USA

Wild Wonders of Europe / Grunewald / Lava flow in the "Valley del Bove" the Eastern side of Mount Etna Volcano, Sicily, Italy, May 2009

Wild Wonders of Europe / Grunewald / Old cone in the "Valley del Bove" the eastern side of Mount Etna Volcano, Sicily, Italy, May 2009

Wild Wonders of Europe / Allofs / Reeds by the lagoon "Etang du Vaccares", Camargue, France, April 2009

David Shale / Deepsea octopus (Grimpoteuthis sp), "Dumbo", North Atlantic.

Wild Wonders of Europe / Relanzón / The "Gigantes", sea cliffs in the South of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2008

Juan Carlos Munoz / The "Long Wall", aerial view of sand dunes bordering the atlantic coast, near Swakopmund, Namib desert, Namibia, August 2008

Michael Pitts / Caribbean reef sharks (Carcharhinus perezi) at night on wreck of the "'Ray of Hope'', Bahamas. July 2008.

Ross Hoddinott / River with the "Windy Post" in the background, near Feather tor, Dartmoor, Devon, UK. February 2009.

Tim Laman / Aboriginal rock art with many human hands, at a site called "The Art Gallery", Carnarvon Gorge, Carnarvon National Park, Queensland, Australia

Wild Wonders of Europe / Döerr / Rocky limestone area "La Zaplaz", Piatra Craiului National Park, Transylvania, Southern Carpathian Mountains, Romania, October 2008

Luiz Claudio Marigo / Aerial view of Anavilhanas Ecological Station and "igap" flooded Amazon Rainforest, in Negro River, north of Manaus city, Amazonas State, Northern Brazil.

Luiz Claudio Marigo / Aerial view of river meander and formation of ox-bow lake, in Amazon "vrzea" Rainforest during the great 2008 flood, Northern Santa Cruz Department near the border with Beni Department, Eastern Bolivi...

Tony Heald / Pigtail Macaques (Macaca nemestrina) crossing purpose-built "primate wires" connecting isolated patches of forest, Kinabatangan River, Sukau, Sabah, Borneo, September 2008

Igor Shpilenok / Velikan (or "Giant") Geyser, the largest geyser on Kamchatka, periodically shooting to a height of a nine-story building and releasing 30 tons of water per minute. Colonies of thermophilic bacteria co...

Solvin Zankl / Eel larva in the "leptocephalus" stage {Anguilla sp}, Atlantic ocean

Igor Shpilenok / Kamchatka brown bear (Ursus arctos beringianus) at the "Stained glass window" in the Valley of the Geysers, Kronotsky Zapovednik, Kamchatka, Far East Russia

Georgette Douwma / Maiden gobies (Valenciennea puellaris) "kissing", Red Sea, Egypt

John Downer / Remote control "lion buggy" used to film Lion pride in BBC television series "Supersense", 1989

Niall Benvie / A conceptual picture of Global warming illustrated through a model of the earth with a sign at the North Pole saying "Danger, Thin Ice".

Georgette Douwma / "Seatrek" programme presenters Martha Holmes and Mike de Gruy feeding Butterflyfish off Hawaii, 1991 - BBC NHU television series

Georgette Douwma / Martha Holmes swims with Whale Shark off Hawaii, 1991 on location for BBC NHU television series "Seatrek", Model released

Solvin Zankl / Seed of Goatsbeard (Tragopogon pratensis) - Europe. Like dandelions, the seeds of goatsbeard have a parachute that enables wind dispersal over large distances. The parachute is up to 4cm in diameter a...

Solvin Zankl / Cornflower seeds (Centaurea cyanus). Cornflower seeds are partly dispersed by ants and also carry a tuft of hygroscopic (water-absorbing) fibres that expand when wet and retract when dry, thus driving...

Solvin Zankl / Seeds of Common storksbill (Erodium cicutarium), Europe. In dry conditions, the ripe seeds are ejected from the fruit. The seed tails are formed from the persisting style which consists of hygroscopic...