Photographer: Leana Kuster (Switzerland), Location: France
A greater flamingo balances on one leg while scratching its head.
The winning photographs will be announced on 14 October, followed by an exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London. Here are some of the most striking highly commended entries.
Photographer: Bidyut Kalita
A red potter wasp appears almost frozen mid-flight, clutching a green caterpillar beneath its body.
Photographer: Emmanuel Tardy (France), Location: Costa Rica
A brown-throated three-toed sloth grips a barbed wire fence post after crossing a road.
Photographer: Bertie Gregory (UK), Location: Antarctica
Emperor penguin chicks huddle on the edge of an ice shelf before leaping into the sea.
Photographer: Kutub Uddin (Bangladesh/UK), Location: West Sussex, UK
Tiny slime moulds line a mossy log with a yellow insect egg nestled among them.
Photographer: Jamie Smart (UK), Location: Leicestershire, UK
A red deer stag bellows in Bradgate Park during the autumn rut.
Photographer: Amit Eshel (Israel), Location: Canada
A pack of Arctic wolves approach in freezing conditions on Ellesmere Island.
Photographer: Kesshav Vikram (India), Location: Russia
A brown bear walks by Kurile Lake with the Iliinsky volcano in the background.
Photographer: Parham Pourahmad (USA), Location: California, USA
A male coyote’s amber eye is framed by the tail of a nearby female.
Photographer: Marina Cano (Spain), Location: Kenya
Young cheetahs practise hunting a Günther’s dik-dik under their mother’s watch.
Photographer: Lakshitha Karunarathna (Sri Lanka), Location: Sri Lanka
An Asian elephant walks through a landfill site near a protected wildlife zone.
Photographer: Gabriella Comi (Italy), Location: Tanzania
A lion faces a cobra in a tense standoff in the Serengeti.
Photographer: Ralph Pace (USA), Location: California, USA
A swarm of Pacific sea nettles drifts underwater with trailing tentacles.
Photographer: Sitaram Raul (India), Location: India
Fruit bats emerge from a ruined building in Maharashtra at night.
Photographer: Isaac Szabo (USA), Location: Florida, USA
A female longnose gar swims with several males as a turtle drifts into view.
Photographer: Jassen Todorov (USA), Location: California, USA
Golden clouds reflect in the patchwork salt ponds of San Francisco Bay.
Kursiv Uzbekistan also reports that President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev has laid the first stone in the foundation of the country’s future National Museum.
