From western toad tadpoles to glowing wetlands, this year’s winners capture nature’s beauty—and its fragility.

Selected from a record 59,228 entries, these are the overall winners and the 18 category winners of this prestigious competition by London’s Natural History Museum.

A snapshot of wriggling toad tadpoles has earned Shane Gross the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Beneath a floating canopy of lily pads in Cedar Lake, Canada, a swarm of western toad tadpoles glided gracefully through the water.

The 2024 competition saw a whopping 59,228 entries from 117 countries and territories. Winners were announced at a ceremony in London.

Lichens, lynxes and an anaconda are just some of the other critters who made the cut for London's Natural History Museum's prestigious annual competition.Canadian marine conservation photojournalist Shane Gross had to carefully navigate through a delicate layer of silt and algae at the bottom of Cedar Lake on Vancouver Island,