Alberto Fantoni/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
This shot by Italian photographer Alberto Fantoni shows a male Eleonora's falcon bringing his mate food on the steep cliffs of an island in Sardinia.
Alex Badyaev/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
US-Russian photographer Alex Badyaev captures a biologist observing a Cordilleran flycatcher from a cabin in the Rocky Mountains, Montana, US.
Andrés Luis Dominguez Blanco/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Andrés Luis Dominguez Blanco captured this image of a European stonechat near his home in Andalucia, Spain.
Frank Deschandol/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
French photographer Frank Deschandol managed to capture a red-banded sand wasp (left) and a cuckoo wasp about to enter adjacent nest holes.
Gabriel Eisenband/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Colombian photographer Gabriel Eisenband captured this image of white arnica, a member of the daisy family found only in Colombia, on the slopes of Ritak'Uwa Blanco in the Colombian Andes.
Jaime Culebras/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Spanish photographer Jaime Culebras photographed this Manduriacu glass frog eating a spider in the foothills of the Andes, northwestern Ecuador.
Jose Luis Ruiz Jiménez/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Jose Luis Ruiz Jiménez photographed this family of great crested grebes in a lagoon near Brozas, in his native Spain.
Kirsten Luce/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
A polar bear performs at a Russian circus in Kazan, Tatarstan, photographed by US photographer Kirsten Luce.
Liina Heikkinen/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year winner Liina Heikkinen captured the moment a young fox made off to eat a barnacle goose without sharing with its siblings.
Luciano Gaudenzio/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Italian photographer Luciano Gaudenzio reveals how lava flows in a huge lava tunnel on Mount Etna, Italy.
Mogens Trolle/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Danish photographer Mogens Trolle photographed this young male proboscis monkey striking a pose at a sanctuary in Sabah, Borneo.
Paul Hilton/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
British-Australian photographer Paul Hilton got this shot of a young, chained pig-tailed macaque at Bali's bird market, Indonesia. Its mother would have been killed.
Ripan Biswas/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Indian photographer Ripan Biswas captured the moment a weaver ant bit into the hind leg of a giant riverine tiger beetle.
Sam Sloss/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Italian-American photographer Sam Sloss captured this picture of a clown fish while on a diving holiday in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Sergey Gorshkov/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Overall winner Sergey Gorshkov got this rare tigress in her Siberian forest environment using a hidden camera in the Russian Far East.
Shanyuan Li/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Shanyuan Li managed to capture a rare picture of a family of Pallas's cats -- or manuls -- on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in northwest China after six years' work at high altitude.
Songda Cai/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Songda Cai photographed this tiny diamondback squid paralarva whilst on a night dive over deep water, far off the coast of Anilao, in the Philippines.
CNN  — 

Russian photographer Sergey Gorshkov has won the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year award for an image of an Amur tigress hugging a tree.

It took Gorshkov more than 11 months to capture the image using hidden cameras in Russia’s Far East, the only place on Earth where Amur, or Siberian, tigers are found.

He was rewarded with the prestigious prize on Tuesday, according to a press release from the Natural History Museum, which runs the competition.

Sergey Gorshkov/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Sergey Gorshkov's picture of a rare tigress hugging a tree earned him the top award at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020.

“It’s a scene like no other. A unique glimpse of an intimate moment deep in a magical forest,” said Roz Kidman Cox, chair of the judging panel.

“Shafts of low winter sun highlight the ancient fir tree and the coat of the huge tigress as she grips the trunk in obvious ecstasy and inhales the scent of tiger on resin, leaving her own mark as her message.”

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020 -- first pictures released

Amur tigers were hunted almost to extinction in the last century, said Tim Littlewood, jury member and the Natural History Museum’s executive director of science, and are still threatened by poaching and logging.

“The remarkable sight of the tigress immersed in her natural environment offers us hope, as recent reports suggest numbers are growing from dedicated conservation efforts,” said Littlewood.

Winners were announced at an online awards ceremony featuring Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, Tuesday, with Gorshkov claiming the top prize.

Liina Heikkinen/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Liina Heikkinen was crowned the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020 for her picture of a fox.

Winners of other categories include Paul Hilton’s picture of a young pig-tailed macaque, which scooped the Wildlife Photojournalist Story Award, and Frank Deschandol’s remarkable photo of two wasps, which topped the Behavior: Invertebrate category.

Finnish photographer Liina Heikkinen was crowned the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020 for her image of a fox protecting the goose it caught from five siblings.

Gary Meredith/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Two common brushtail possums peek out of their hiding place under the roof of a shower block in a holiday park in Yallingup, western Australia.
Jaime Culebras/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
A wandering spider eats the egg of a giant glass frog in Ecuador.
Dhiritiman Mukherjee/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
A large, critically endangered male gharial carries his offspring in India. The animal is at least four meters long.
Alessandra Meniconzi/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Mountain birds photographed high in the Swiss Alps.
Hannah Vijayan/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
A brown bear catches a salmon in Alaska's Katmai National Park.
Garth Lenz/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Tar sands in Alberta, Canada.
Jose Fragoso/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
A hippopotamus emerges from the mud to take a breath in Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve.
Laurent Ballesta/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Darkness falls on Fakarava Atoll, in French Polynesia, as molluscs begin to move and a grey reef shark glides past.
Makoto Ando/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
A red squirrel runs away from a pair of Ural owls, which prey on small mammals, on the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
Matthew Maran/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
A young fox holds onto a dead brown rat her brother is trying to steal from her.
Quentin Martinez/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
A market trader in Indonesia slices up fruit bats at his stall, which also stocks pythons and 'bush' rats.
Thomas P. Peschak/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Dead albatrosses that drowned after getting hooked by longlines set by fishing boats off South Africa.
Andrea Pozzi/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Araucaria trees in the Araucanía region of Chile.

“A sense of furtive drama and frantic urgency enlivens this image, drawing us into the frame,” said Shekar Dattatri, wildlife filmmaker and jury member.

“The sharp focus on the fox’s face leads us straight to where the action is. A great natural history moment captured perfectly.”

Winners were selected from a shortlist of 100 images and will be exhibited at the Natural History Museum in London before embarking on a UK and international tour.