Surrounded by dozens of hibernating horseshoe bats holding tight to the ceiling of a mine tunnel, one would be forgiven for taking in the scene by simply looking up. But as photographer Imre Potyó walked through this restricted-access environment in Hungary’s Börzsöny Mountains, where he has been documenting bats for 13 years, he instead looked down. Because the bats occasionally get up from their roost to hunt, they leave behind droppings that accumulate in a layer on the ground.
In a photograph that just won the German Society for Nature Photography’s European Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest, Potyó took a macro look at a small pin mold that had grown in a whitish layer on the guano. By shifting focus, he captured both the filaments of the mold and the bats in the background. Wildlife photographers try to make those mysterious worlds less obscure, bringing into focus the rare, tiny, gut-wrenching and beautiful aspects of nature.
They strive to take Earth’s biodiversity—even miniscule organisms and those found in remote locations—and share it with the world. Since 2001, the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition has highlighted images that “celebrate the beauty of our planet, reveal its vulnerability and send a clear message for its protection,” according to the contest. This year, amateur and professional photographers from 46 countries submitted more than 26,000 entries, setting a record for participation.
An international jury whittled down this pool of photos to 107 winners across nine categories and two special prizes. All the contest’s winners, runners up and highly commended images can be seen on the German Society for Nature Photography’s website. Here’s a selection of some of those photographs, from a secretive cat to a playful sea lion and a glowing crab.
Carlyn Kranking is Smithsonian magazine's associate web editor for science.
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