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BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Karine Aigner
Photograph: BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Karine Aigner

Check out all the amazing winners of this new wildlife photography competition

From tempestuous starfish to posing stoats, here are the most spectacular nature snaps of the year so far

Ed Cunningham
Written by
Ed Cunningham
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You’ve almost certainly never seen bees quite so up-close before. Tangled up on the ground, this ball of bees makes for a pretty fascinating – not to mention very cute, at least at first glance – photograph.

The snap was the Grand Prize winner of the 2022 edition of the BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition. It was taken in south Texas by Karine Aigner and shows the moment when a female cactus bee emerges from the nest and males vie for their chance to mate with her. In other words, yes, we’re sort of witnessing a bee orgy. Not so cute now, eh?

The competition is organised every year by the California Academy of Sciences. it always focuses on wildlife and conservation, but this year photographers were also asked to highlight Earth’s diversity and threats to the planet. While you can view the entire winning selection here, below we’ve picked out some of our favourites, including…

This huge, crusty fish

BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Tom Shlesinger
Photograph: BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Tom Shlesinger

A hungry jaguar

BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar
Photograph: BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar

A cinematic beaver

BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Bence Máté
Photograph: BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Bence Máté

A really, really well-framed bat

BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Sitaram May
Photograph: BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Sitaram May

This freaky flooded cave

BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Tom St George
Photograph: BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Tom St George

A stoat doing a ‘Glee’ pose

BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Jose Grandío
Photograph: BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Jose Grandío

And this tempestuous starfish

BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Tony Wu
Photograph: BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition / Tony Wu

This gallery was originally published in bioGraphic, an independent magazine about nature and conservation powered by the California Academy of Sciences, and media partner of the BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition.

ICYMI: this devastating climate change warning was shortlisted for the 2022 Earth Photo awards.

Plus: a gigantic and spectacular flower display will soon take over this European capital.

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