Take a look at the mesmerising winners of Nature Photographer of the Year 2021

Looking at this picture of a bulky silverback gorilla beating its chest, we can’t help but wonder: how on earth did the photographer capture that? Not only is it a great, action-packed image, but it’s also a very close-up shot of a highly dangerous animal. How did the photographer even live to tell the tale?

The snap was taken in the Kahuzi-Biéga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo by Austrian photographer Josef Friedhuber, and it’s blurry because he was startled by the sudden appearance of the silverback. He took the shot while falling backwards, capturing a unique image in the process. Luckily, the gorilla clambered peacefully up a tree – and Friedhuber escaped.

The image won first place in the ‘mammals’ category at the Nature Photographer of the Year awards, a competition run by photography festival Nature Talks which features more than a dozen categories ranging from plants and mammals to ‘black and white’ and ‘youth’. Here are a few more of our favourites from the 2021 edition.