Looking for love by Tony Wu, USA. Highly commended, Animal Portraits. “Accentuating his mature appearance with pastel colours, protruding lips and an outstanding pink forehead, this Asian sheepshead wrasse sets out to impress females and see off rivals, which he will head-butt and bite, near Japan’s remote Sado Island. Individuals start out as females, and when they reach a certain age and size – up to a metre (more than 3 feet) long – can transform into males. Long-lived and slow-growing, the species is intrinsically vulnerable to overfishing”. (Photo by Tony Wu/2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

Cookie the cockapoo dog is enjoying herself on the beach by jumping over a sea defence as the sun shines at Heacham, West Norfolk, England on July 14, 2020. (Photo by Paul Marriott/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A stag reacts as magpies and crows fuss over a resting stag as they feed on ticks from the fur of the deer herd roaming on the Ashton Court Estate, Bristol, in crisp and cold Autumnal weather on November 23, 2020. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)

Patience paid off for the photographer who waited for hours to catch a crocodile on Java, the largest Indonesian island in March 2023. (Photo by Tanto Yensen/Solent News)

An Oriental Garden Lizard sits on a tree in Gauhati, India, Tuesday, April 16, 2019. During the breeding season, the male lizard's head and throat turn a bright color. (Photo by Anupam Nath/AP Photo)

Female of pygmy hippopotamus called Malaya from Netherlands in zoo in Dvur Kralove nad Labem, Czech Republic, February 22, 2016. (Photo by David Tanecek/CTK via ZUMA Press)

A baby elephant eats in a swamp in Amboseli national park, Kenya, March 19, 2017. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

A shoebill is displayed at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo August 28, 2012. (Photo by Itsuo Inouye/Associated Press)