BED OF SEALS

CRISTOBAL SERRANO, SPAIN Winner, Animals in their Environment

A group of crabeater seals doze on an ice floe at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. These seals, widespread in Antarctica, are dependent on sea ice for resting, breeding, avoiding predators such as killer whales and leopard seals, and accessing feeding areas. Cristobal waited in a rubber dinghy until the sea was relatively calm before launching his drone to fly “high and smoothly … using lownoise propellers to avoid disturbing the seals”.