See the buzzworthy winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to witness the reproductive dance of a giant sea star, watch ibexes spar (from a safe distance), gaze upon sun-dappled mushrooms in a fairytale forest, or meet the gaze of a polar bear through the window of an abandoned house? Now you can, thanks to the 2022 winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards.

15-17 years Winner: The beauty of baleen. Upper Gulf of Thailand. Bryde’s whales have up to 370 pairs of gray-colored plates of baleen growing inside their upper jaws. The plates are made of keratin, a protein that also forms human hair and nails, and are used to filter small prey from the ocean.

Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

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Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

London’s Natural History Museum, which runs the competition, announced the winning images this week and will display them in an exhibition set to open on Friday. It will eventually tour across the United Kingdom and other venues in Europe, as well as North America (including Texas and Michigan), Australia and New Zealand.

Natural Artistry Winner: Heavenly flamingos. Salar de Uyuni, Daniel Campos Province, Bolivia. High in the Andes, Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt pan. It is also one of Bolivia’s largest lithium mines, which threatens the future of these flamingos.

Junji Takasago/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

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Junji Takasago/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The museum said in a release that an international panel of experts had selected the 19 finalists out of more than 38,000 entries from nearly 100 countries, based on their “originality, narrative, technical excellence and ethical practice.” Then, they awarded two of those winners — one in each age category — the top prize.

Urban Wildlife Winner: House of bears. Kolyuchin Island, Chukotka, Russia. In the Chukchi Sea region, the normally solitary bears usually migrate further north in the summer, following the retreating sea ice they depend on for hunting seals, their main food.

Dmitry Kokh/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

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Dmitry Kokh/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

American photographer Karine Aigner was named wildlife photographer of the year for a close-up shot of a “buzzing ball of cactus bees spinning over the hot sand on a Texas ranch” that she calls “The Big Buzz.”

All but one are males intent on mating with the single female bee at the center, the museum explains, adding that the bees are threatened by pesticides, climate change, habitat loss and disruptive farming practices.

Aigner is just the fifth woman to win the title in the competition’s almost six-decade history, according to organizers.

Photojournalism winner: Ndakasi’s passing. Senkwekwe Center, Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Stirton photographed Ndakasi’s rescue as a 2-month-old after her troop was brutally killed by a charcoal mafia as a threat to park rangers. Ndakasi laid in the arms of her rescuer and caregiver of 13 years, ranger Andre Bauma.

Brent Stirton/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

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Brent Stirton/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The award of young wildlife photographer of the year went to 16-year-old Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn, of Thailand, who captured an almost abstract snapshot of a Bryde’s whale surfacing near his boat to feed on small anchovies. It’s titled “The Beauty of Baleen.”

Wuttichaitanakorn was moved by the contrasting colors and textures of the whale’s “dark skin, pink gum and the brush-like mass of baleen hanging down from its top jaw,” the museum says, referring to the plates of baleen that certain types of whales use when lunge-feeding, in order to filter small prey from the ocean.

Tiny spider versus little chick. Crane Beach, Ipswich, Mass. Beach wolf spiders are rarely aggressive unless provoked, making this attack on the unsuspecting plover especially remarkable.

Rajan Desai/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

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Rajan Desai/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Amphibians and Reptiles Winner: The bat-snatcher. Kantemo, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Every evening at sundown in the Cave of the Hanging Snakes, thousands of bats leave for the night’s feeding. It is also when hungry rat snakes emerge, dangling from the roof to snatch their prey in midair.

Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

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Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

“Wildlife photographers offer us unforgettable glimpses into the lives of wild species, sharing unseen details, fascinating behaviors and front-line reporting on the climate and biodiversity crises,” said Dr. Doug Gurr, director of the Natural History Museum. “These images demonstrate their awe of and appreciation for the natural world and the urgent need to take action to protect it.”

Organizers will be accepting entries for next year’s contest — from photographers of all ages, experience levels and nationalities — between Oct. 17 and Dec. 8. In the meantime, check out some of this year’s champions:

Wetlands Winner: The dying lake. Lake Amatitlán, Villa Canales, Guatemala. Cyanobacteria flourishes in the presence of pollutants, such as sewage and agricultural fertilizers, forming algal blooms. Efforts to restore the Amatitlán wetland are underway but have been hampered by a lack of funding and allegations of political corruption.

Daniel Núñez/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

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Daniel Núñez/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Sloth dilemma. Tasty Waves Cantina, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Costa Rica. Sloths live in trees and rarely descend to the forest floor. With increasing habitat loss, they are forced to make vulnerable journeys across urbanized areas to find food, suitable habitats and mates.

Suzi Eszterhas/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

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Suzi Eszterhas/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Animal Portrait Winner: Puff Perfect. La Oliva, Fuerteventura, Spain. A Canary Islands houbara male returns annually to its courtship site to perform impressive displays.

José Juan Hernández Martinez/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

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José Juan Hernández Martinez/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Trick or tragedy?. Cuba and the U.S. Owners and birds have strong relationships, but there can be a dark side to the trade, with some birds being taken from the wild and stored and trafficked in inhospitable conditions.

Karine Aigner/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

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Karine Aigner/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Underwater Winner: Shooting star. Kinko Bay, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. This is a male Leiaster leachi sea star broadcasting sperm into murky water in a shallow bay. Other nearby sea stars were broadcasting sperm and eggs into the water in synchrony.

Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

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Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Plants and Fungi Winner: The magical morels. Mount Olympus, Pieria, Greece. Morels are regarded as gastronomic treasures in many parts of the world because they are difficult to cultivate, yet in some forests they flourish naturally.

Agorastos Papatsanis/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

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Agorastos Papatsanis/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Bear bonanza. Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. When the salmon arrive in summer, so do the bears. Though they are usually solitary, they congregate in large numbers to fish.

Adam Rice/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

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Adam Rice/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London.