Shane Gross, from Canada, grabbed the western toad tadpoles while snorkeling through lily pads in Cedar Lake on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
He avoided the layers of silt and algae covering the bottom, which reduce visibility, and succeeded in snapping a cloud of the frogs, a species that is becoming nearly extinct owing to habitat devastation and predation.
After a record-breaking 59,228 entries from 117 countries and territories, the image titled “The Swarm Of Life” has been named the winner of the Natural History Museum’s annual Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2024 competition.
The jury chair, Athy Moran, expressed that the group was “captivated by the mix of light, energy and connectivity between the environment and the tadpoles”.
She also mentioned that this is the first time the species has been highlighted in the competition, which is in its 60th year.
Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year went to German photographer Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas for this close-up shot of a slime mold on the right and a macroscopic creature known as a springtail on the left, taken in Berlin.
Tinker-Tsavalas combined 36 photos with various focal points using a method known as focus stacking.
