An Italian photographer has won the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year award with a striking image of a mother elephant carrying her dead calf. Federico Veronesi captured the emotional photo titled “The Aftermath” while observing elephants in Namibia’s Huab River Valley. The image, which also won the Behaviour: Mammals category, depicts an adult female elephant with her calf’s leg caught between her tusk and trunk.
Kathy Moran, chair of the jury for the 2026 competition, praised the photo for its emotional impact and intellectual depth, stating that it showcases the animals’ cognition. The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, held by the Natural History Museum in London, aims to raise awareness of nature’s stories and environmental challenges. This year’s edition received 65,403 entries from 121 countries and territories.
Oscar Whitfield, a young British photographer, won the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year prize with a close-up shot of a dung beetle pushing a dung ball. Another notable mention includes Canadian photographer Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, who won the Rising Star Award for his photo capturing a robber fly preying on a flesh fly.
The exhibition features several category winners, such as Amelie Davis from the U.K., who won in the 10 years and under bracket with a photo of a common carder bee. Anton Sorokin’s image of a California newt laying eggs was the winner of the Amphibians and Reptiles category, while Agorastos Papatsanis’s photo of fluorescent bonnet mushrooms won the Plants and Fungi category. James Lewin’s captivating image of a young bull elephant spraying water on zebras in Kenya took the top spot in the Animals in their Environment category.
Although there were no Canadian category winners this year, Canadians can view the exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria. The exhibition will also be showcased at the Natural History Museum in London.