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We look back over the year’s wildlife photographs, and hand out some much-deserved gongs to brilliant and beautiful creatures around the world
Composite: Guardian Picture DeskFri 26 Dec 2025 08.00 GMT

Back From the Brink award:
one of 18 wildcats that were released in the Scottish Highlands, UK, in October. This is the third year that wildcats have been released into the Cairngorms national park after being declared functionally extinct in Britain in 2019. Four have died, but five litters of kittens were born this year, and seven the year before. Experts have said there is “real hope for the future” of wildcats in ScotlandPhotograph: Peter Cairns/Scotland Big Picture/Royal Zoological Society of Scotland/PA
Cutest Newcomer
: Say hello to the bumpy snailfish – a never-before-seen species of deep-sea creature photographed by a remotely operated vehicle more than 3km underwater off the coast of California. With its big blue eyes and winning smile, the little snailfish was an instant online hit in October. Asked to comment, the lead researcher told the New York Times that the newcomer was “pretty adorable”Photograph: MBARI
Parents of the Year
: Dorcha and Louis, two ospreys, on their nest at Loch Arkaig pine forest in Lochaber, Scotland, in April. Fans of the Woodland Trust’s osprey cam were delighted to see them return from west Africa for the summer; Louis had been ill the year before. In 2025, he and Dorcha successfully raised two chicks, with Louis bringing an astonishing 439 fish to the nest Photograph: Woodland Trust Scotland/PA
Best Supporting Scratcher
: a young grey seal scratches against a post in the dunes at Horsey in Norfolk, as the pupping season draws to a close at one the UK’s most important sites for the mammals. Wardens from the Friends of Horsey Seals did their final count in January and announced that 3,246 pups had been born last seasonPhotograph: Joe Giddens/PA
Mistakes Were Made award
: a clumsy fox had a very bad day when it managed to get its leg stuck in a letterbox in August. It was released by a member of the public and then became stuck between a fence and a wall while trying to escape in Hadleigh, Essex. It was later freed by South Essex Wildlife hospitalPhotograph: Liam Clement/SWNS
Best Stunt
: Two squirrels showed off their moves in St James’s Park during an August heatwave in LondonPhotograph: Jack Taylor/Reuters
Heavyweight Champion of the Year
: in July, a new stick insect species was discovered in Queensland. It is 40cm (16in) long and thought to be the heaviest insect in AustraliaPhotograph: Professor Angus Emmott/James Cook University
Best Actor in a Tragicomedy
: a vole looks surprised as it is carried away in the talons of a white-tailed kite in Mountain View, California, US, in JulyPhotograph: Sha Lu/SWNS
Rod Hull Memorial prize
: a baby vulture at a New York zoo is fed by hand puppet at the Bronx zoo, New York, US, in March. King vultures can neglect their chicks, so hand-feeding is necessary to ensure the baby survives, but staff disguise themselves to ensure the birds don’t bond with their human carersPhotograph: Terria Clay/AP
Wrap Artists of the Year:
rescued baby flying foxes rest, wrapped up, after being injured by giant hailstones, some as large as a cricket ball, in Queensland storms, Australia, in November. Almost 120 fruit bats (as they are also known) were injured, some critically, before being rescued by volunteers and admitted to the RSPCA wildlife hospitalPhotograph: RSPCA Queensland
Privacy Campaigner of the Year:
a polar bear wards off the press while trespassing on Kolyuchin Island, Russia.Photograph: Vadim Makhorov/Reuters
Misplaced Ambition medal:
a pelican at the cafe in St James’s Park, London, UKPhotograph: Stephen Chung/Alamy Live News
Catcher in the Sky prize
: An osprey lifts a trout from the water at a lake near Stamford, EnglandPhotograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Heartstring-tugger of the Year:
a scared and wet baby raccoon was found on a doorstep in Belchertown, Massachusetts, US, in June. “Bub” became an internet celebrity thanks to this photo. After three months of care in a rehab centre, he was released, looking much less pitifulPhotograph: Belchertown Animal Control/SWNS
Most Dazzling Smile:
a nutria – a herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent – surfaces at a lake in the Bois de Boulogne, western Paris, France. Like beavers; nutrias have high levels of iron in their tooth enamel, which is where the colour comes fromPhotograph: Martin Lelievre/AFP/Getty Images
Supermarket Sweep supremo:
a male elephant named Plai Biang Lek gets stuck in to the sweet rice crackers at a shop in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, in JunePhotograph: Kanokporn Sriboon/AP
Synchronised Grazing medal:
two deer in a poppy field in the Bourne Valley, Wiltshire, UK, in MayPhotograph: Nick Bull/pictureexclusive.com
Best All-rounder:
a spider in Cerro de la Muerte, Costa Rica, with its eight eyes clearly showing. Jumping spiders have 360-degree vision, but only the front two eyes provide sharp, colourful imagesPhotograph: Jeffrey Arguedas/EPA
Brave Baby award:
A vet checks over a baby orangutan seized from traffickers in Bangkok, ThailandPhotograph: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA
Swan Mum of the Year:
A mother mute swan attends to her cygnets at Abbotsbury Swannery, Dorset, UK, in May. The arrival of mute swan cygnets is traditionally seen as the start of summer, and it’s said the Benedictine monks who owned the swannery between about 1000 and the 1540s believed the first cygnet signalled the season’s first dayPhotograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
Best Balayage
: capybaras emerge in February from the Salto Grande lake on the Argentina/Uruguay border, covered in bright green slime due to cyanobacteria in the waterPhotograph: Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images
Living the High Life award:
Ed the runaway zebra is airlifted by helicopter back to his owner in June, following his capture after a week on the loose, in a rural area south-east of Nashville, Tennessee, US. The escaped zebra became an internet sensation, with memes showing him visiting tourist attractions and dining at a Waffle HousePhotograph: AP
Living the High Life runner-up:
a stork mother guards her nest on an electrical pylon near Frankfurt, Germany, in MayPhotograph: Michael Probst/AP
Best Refusal to Give Up:
a koala on a blue gum plantation that was cleared in May, in Victoria, Australia. Thousands of koalas are being displaced each year as blue gum plantations are cut down, worsening overcrowding in nearby forests and exacerbating the risk of injury and death during bushfiresPhotograph: Paul Hilton/Earth Tree Images/The Guardian
Squawk of Fame
: two roseate spoonbills squabble at the St Augustine alligator farm zoological park’s bird rookery in Florida, US, in AprilPhotograph: Zuma Press/Alamy Live News
Brotherly Love award
… great egret chicks snuggle up in their nest at Wakodahatchee wetlands in Delray Beach, Florida, US, in MarchPhotograph: Ronen Tivony/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock
Rising Stars
: two Père David’s deer squabble at a nature reserve in Yancheng, eastern China, in AprilPhotograph: AFP/Getty Images
Mystery Shopper of the Year
:A sizeable tortoise explores a market in Bangkok, Thailand, in MarchPhotograph: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images
Sweet-cheeks medal
: frogs mating in a pond in the Dublin Mountains, Ireland. Depending on weather conditions, the frogs emerge from hibernation in February or March and head for their freshwater breeding grounds to begin spawningPhotograph: Niall Carson/PA
Tiny Gladiator trophy
: A green sea turtle hatchling attempts to find its way to the ocean on Heron Island, Australia, in February. Each year between November and March, green sea turtles emerge from the ocean to lay eggs on the coastline of Heron Island, before returning to the ocean. The hatchlings emerge about six weeks later and then have to survive a series of predators ranging from seagulls to reef sharks, with an estimated survival rate of one in 1,000Photograph: James Gourley/Getty Images
Winter Warmer prize
: a snow monkey takes an open-air hot spring bath at the Jigokudani monkey park in Nagano prefecture, Japan, in FebruaryPhotograph: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images
Oversized Load award:
blindfolded Masai giraffes are driven away from their previous habitat in the Rift Valley, Kenya, which was deteriorating after having been sold for development. The giraffes have been relocated to a wildlife conservancyPhotograph: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images
Orphan of the Year
: Rangers at the Margalla wildlife rescue centre in Islamabad prepare to feed Neelo and Sultan, leopard cubs whose mother was killed, in February. Leopard killings are soaring in Pakistan. Researchers from the World Wildlife Fund are warning of a drastic population decline. While leopards are sometimes killed for their valuable pelts, they say, most cases are acts of retaliation – triggered by attacks on people or, more frequently, their farm animalsPhotograph: Ana Norman BermudezExplore more on these topics


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