Natural selection: Wildlife shots up for top prize

FROM an eagle warily eyeing a bear to lions caught out in a rainstorm, these amazing images of wildlife are all contenders for one of photography’s biggest prizes.

All were taken in challenging situations by extremely patient photographers often having to brave the elements.

In one, a bald eagle keeps watch on a black bear cub which climbed up beside it to take a nap in a pine tree in Alaska. Dutch scientist Jeroen Hoekendijk scrambled up a nearby hill ‘with some difficulty – and a lot of luck’ to take the shot.

And American Ashleigh McCord herself had to shelter from a tropical storm on Kenya’s Masaai Mara plains to get a picture of lions getting a drenching. The public can vote for the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year at www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/peoples-choice

Picture:KARLSAMITSCH Nut so fast: Squirrel leaps for food in Cairngorms, Scotland

Eagle-eyed: A bird of prey checks out a sleeping bear in Alaska

Bond of brothers: Sibling lions in a rainstorm in Masaai Mara, Kenya

Wild child: Orangutan and baby in Sumatra

Bushfire escape: Kangaroos in Australia