Jasper Doest/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
"Fight to the death" displays the distress an elephant felt after a train collision shattered their hip, prior to being put down. Jasper Doest took the photo in Lopé National Park, Gabon.
Caitlin Henderson/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Caitlin Henderson caught a possum snacking on a cicada on her balcony in Queensland, Australia, while carrying a baby in her pouch in "Possum's midnight snack."
Alex Mustard/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
In "Coral connections," Alex Mustard captures the biodiversity of a healthy coral reef rife with ghost gobies swimming within its branches in Lembeh Strait, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Solvin Zankl/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Solvin Zankl watched a two-colored mason bee build the roof of a nest for "Mason bee at work," in Hesse, Germany.
Jef Pattyn/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Jef Pattyn spent days watching fishermen to capture this image. "Prize catch" shows a fisherman pulling a sailfish across the beach in Puerto López, Manabí Province, Ecuador.
Neil Aldridge/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
"The face of the persecuted," which depicts an injured fox in Kent, England, is part of South African photographer Neil Aldridge's nine-year project showcasing the relationship the British have with the red fox.
Elza Friedländer/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
German photographer Elza Friedländer caught a pair of white storks in the shimmering heat against the deliberately burning grasslands of the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya for "Firebirds." Controlled fires are a controversial way to stimulate new growth.
Max Waugh/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
"Snow bison" by photographer Max Waugh is the contrasting sight of a bison kicking up a snow storm over itself in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.
Michal Siarek/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Michał Siarek documented the evacuation of animals from war-torn Ukraine into Poland. "War cub" records the moment a crate containing an evacuated tiger cub is opened in Poland's Poznań Zoo.
Atsuyuki Ohshima/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Atsuyuki Ohshima snapped one of nature's curiosities with "Forest rodeo," where a macaque jumps from a tree onto the back of a deer in Yakushima, Kagoshima, Japan. Although rare, this type of interaction is not unheard of.
Agorastos Papatsanis/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Agorastos Papatsanis illuminates the spores underneath the gills of a deer shield mushroom with his ethereal "Mushroom magic" taken in Greece's Mount Olympus.
Shashwat Harish/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
After hearing that a leopard had been spotted nearby, Shashwat Harish's hours of waiting for the animal were rewarded with a tail-curling scene captured in "The catwalk" in Kenya.
Bruno D'Amicis/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
The mosaic-like image of a Mediterranean monk seal in "The vanishing seal" is the stunning result of several hours of Bruno D'Amici's labor in Greece to catch the endangered species through his lens.
Zhai Zeyu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
"Coot on ice" by Zhai Zeyu shows a coot struggling to stay upright while holding a squirming loach in its beak. Taken in Dalian, Liaoning, China.
Donglin Zhou/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
"Race for life" by Donglin Zhou shows the interplay between predator and prey - a snow leopard versus a Pallas's cat - in Sichuan, China.
London CNN  — 

A home-making mason bee, a motherly possum’s midnight munchies and a macaque lying on a deer’s back are just some of highly commended images from this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

Other images include a bison kicking up a flurry of snow, a pair of storks against burning grasslands in Kenya and a distressed elephant following a collision with a train.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London, where a selection of 100 images will be exhibited after the winners are announced on October 10.

In its 59th year, the competition received 49,957 entries from photographers hailing from 95 countries, organizers said.

Entries were judged anonymously based on their originality, creativity and technical skill by an international panel of experts, organizers added.

Striking image of a snow leopard wins Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award

Kathy Moran, chair of the judging panel, said they felt a “powerful tension between wonder and woe” when selecting the images this year.

“What most impressed the jury was the range of subjects, from absolute beauty, rarely seen behaviors and species to images that are stark reminders of what we are doing to the natural world,” she said in a press release.

Doug Gurr, director of the Natural History Museum, lauded the competition for showcasing “some of nature’s most wondrous sights whilst offering hope and achievable actions visitors can take to help protect the natural world.”

Photography is a “powerful catalyst for change” when faced with “urgent biodiversity and climate crises,” Gurr added in the release.

Images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition will be exhibited at the Natural History Museum from October 13. The exhibition will then go on a UK and international tour, organizers added.

Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. Rolex’s Perpetual Planet initiative has partnered with CNN to drive awareness and education around key sustainability issues and to inspire positive action.