View of colourful rock formations at the Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park in Gansu Province, China. The Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park is 40km from Zhangye city. The park spans more than 400 square kilometers in Gansu. The unusual terrain is the result of red sandstone and mineral deposits carved over the years by natural forces. (Photo by ImagineChina/The Grosby Group)

The winners of The London’s Natural History Museum's prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year for 2013 have finally been unveiled. Selected from almost 43,000 entries from 96 countries, the winners offer a glimpse of the stunning array of natural beauty on our planet. Photo: Canada: “Lucky pounce”. “Anticipating the pounce – that was the hardest part”, says Connor, who had come to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA, in search of wildlife as much as the spectacular landscape. He had found this fox, his first ever, on his last day in the park. It was so absorbed in hunting that Connor had plenty of time to get out of the car and settle behind a rock. It quartered the grassland, back and forth, and then started staring intently at a patch of ground, giving Connor just enough warning of the action to come. When it sprung up, Connor got his shot. And when it landed, the fox got his mouse. (Photo by Connor Stefanison/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013)

Roza Khamitova was born into a family of artists in Kazakhstan. After finishing design school in Manhattan, New York, she was working in fashion industry for about 8 years. As a visual artist Roza had always drawn most of her inspiration from the natural world around her in the mountains of Kazakhstan. In 2011 she launched Shovava, her personal line of women’s clothing based on her hand drawn paintings and prints of the animals, plants and patterns found in nature. Roza was enchanted by the beauty of wings, its structure and symbolism. First, she sketches big wide-spread wings on paper with a light pencil, adds black ink to create a three-dimensional feel and fills with stunning watercolors.

Is it a leaf? Is it tree bark? No, it’s the Satanic leaf-tailed gecko. Cleverly disguised as a rotting leaf, Madagascar’s camouflage king has red eyes, pointy horns and a taste for night hunting: it’s nature’s most devilish deceiver. The twisted body and veiny skin echo the detail of a dry leaf, which ensures the gecko blends in with its forest home. The mottled tail appears to have sections missing, as though it has withered over time. This mini-monster epitomises survival of the fittest, having adapted gradually to become today’s extraordinary leaf impersonator. (Photo by Thomas Marent/ARDEA)

A member of the “Sibspas” Siberian search and rescue group dressed as Santa Claus (R), waits for his team mate, dressed as Father Frost, the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus, as he climbs the rock named “The Fourth Stolb” (the Fourth Pillar) at the Stolby national nature reserve during a training session of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, outside the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia December 15, 2015. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Ants carry a leaf with a slogan reading “Merkel, Help!”, a reference of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at the zoo in Cologne, Germany August 18, 2015. Some of the zoo's 500,000 leaf-cutting ants carry laser-cut leaves with slogans during a campaign to protect the Amazon rain forest, organised by the German branch of World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) and Cologne Zoo. Picture taken through the glass of the display case. (Photo by Ina Fassbender/Reuters)

A river otter (lontra longicaudis) of 6-weeks-old looks in the mirror during a bath in the Animal Welfare Unit of the Zoo in Cali, Colombia, on October 22, 2019. The baby otter was found abandoned brought to the Cali Zoo for breeding, for its extensive experience in raising these species. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature the river otter (lontra longicaudis) are in danger of extinction, because of mining, agriculture, pollution of rivers and housing construction in their habitat. (Photo by Luis Robayo/AFP Photo)

Giant pandas are playing and foraging inside the Shenshuping base of China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong National Nature Reserve on November 3, 2021 in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province of China. (Photo by An Yuan/China News Service via Getty Images)