An image of tadpoles wins the Wildlife Photographer of the Year

British Columbian Shane Gross has won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition awarded by the Natural History Museum of the United Kingdom.

The photo The Swarm of Lifewhich also won the Wetlands category, captures a swarm of Western Toad tadpoles swimming through lily pad branches in Cedar Lake on Vancouver Island.

And Shane Gross isn’t the only Canadian to win over the jury, as Alberta’s John E. Marriott won the category. Animal portraits with his photo of a lynx family in the Yukon.

According to the British museum, the photos were selected from 59,228 entries from 117 countries and territories.

Protection vector

Shane Gross describes himself as a photojournalist specializing in marine conservation.

His image captures dozens of western toad tadpoles, a species threatened by human development and disease, swimming together toward the light.

According to Gross, this is part of the daily afternoon migration from the safer, silty depths 2 to 3 m deep to areas where there is more algae to eat.

I hope that the attention this image brings to our amphibians and wetlands will lead to urgent and much-needed protection measures.

Shane Gross was born and raised in Regina. His passion for sharks led him to his love of chronicling the relationship between humans and the oceans.

He now lives in Nanaimo, British Columbia, and co-founded the Canadian Conservation Photographers Collectivewhich promotes conservation and scientific knowledge through strong visual reporting.

According to the president of the jury, Kathy Moran, the jury was captivated by the mix of light, energy and connectivity between the environment and the tadpoles.

The experience of patience

Shane Gross entered the competition Wildlife Photographer of the Year since 2011 and already had photos very well rated, but this is his first nomination for the prestigious competition.

Albertan John E. Marriott was delighted with his appointment on the X network, these last few days have been some of the most surreal of my life.

According to the Natural History Museum, the photographer followed the lynx on snowshoes for nearly a week, keeping his distance so as not to frighten them. It also highlights the threat to fauna and flora, in particular climate change which reduces the prey available to lynx.

For a wildlife photographer, it’s the pinnacle… It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

In Canada, the exhibition of Wildlife Photographer of the Year will be on display at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria from February 14 to April 27, 2025 and at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto from December 21, 2024 to May 4, 2025.

With information from Emily Chung and Andrew Kurjata