Stunning images highlight fight to save Earth’s rich biodiversity

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Stunning images highlight fight to save Earth’s rich biodiversity

From an alien-looking flat-faced longhorn beetle to an abandoned baby rhino, images at London’s Natural History Museum show what we stand to lose from the decimation of global biodiversity

By Michael Le Page

8 October 2025

Hui Yu photographed this imposing portrait of a tropical flat-faced longhorn beetle on a family photography trip to a tropical rainforest at Gunung Jerai in Malaysia. A light bulb in a mosquito net attracted local invertebrates during the night, and in the morning there were lots of them to look at. Hui Yu is keen on macro-photography and chose the most colourful animal to take a portrait of. 'It had a strange look, like an alien, but it wasn't angry. It sat still on the branch all the time,' she says. 'I want people to know that all creatures, even small ones, count. So don't destroy the forest.' — A tropical flat-faced longhorn beetle in Malaysia
Kim Hui Yu

“It had a strange look, like an alien, but it wasn’t angry. It sat still on the branch all the time,” said Kim Hui Yu, who photographed the flat-faced longhorn beetle in the image above on a family trip to Gunung Jerai on Malaysia’s west coast.

A lightbulb in a mosquito net attracted invertebrates overnight. In the morning, she chose the most colourful to photograph. “I want people to know that all creatures, even small ones, count. So don’t destroy the forest.”

The photo, entitled Alien, is one of eight in a biodiversity display at the Natural History Museum’s 2025  exhibition, opening in London on 17 October. The images are past entries to the competition.

The display also includes a table-sized map of biodiversity levels, as measured by the Biodiversity Intactness Index created by the museum’s researchers.

Hilary O'Leary's Image This four-month-old black rhino calf was found dehydrated and lost in the African bush. Black rhinos are known to hide their young. Here, the evidence suggests that a white rhino bull came across the hidden calf, which then mistakenly followed the bull. The youngster is being raised as wild as possible, with minimal human intervention. But it will need protection and feeding until it is two and a half to three years old, when rhinos usually become independent from their mothers. Hilary was on her way to work one morning when she spotted the calf among a group of anti-poaching scouts as they prepared for the day ahead. ?It was as though he was part of the team,? she says, ?reminding us of why we should be fighting hard to save his species?. The black rhino is critically endangered. Poaching for the international trade in rhino horn caused a dramatic 98 per cent drop in rhino numbers between 1960 and 1995, and it is still the biggest threat to the species. Rhino horn is demanded mainly for traditional (and more recently modern) Chinese medicine and for ornamental use (for example, dagger handles in some Middle Eastern countries). Realising the power of a photograph to convey a message, Hilary captured this one small moment that tells a very big story. — A four-month-old black rhino calf
Hilary O’Leary

Hannah McCartney, who runs the competition, says the images can have a powerful impact – the aim is to get visitors to care enough that they later take action. A prime example is Innocence Betrayed by Hilary O’Leary, featuring a 4-month-old black rhino calf nuzzling an anti-poaching scout. It had been found lost in the bush.

Marc Graf's Image With the promise of sun on the mountaintops, Marc went for a hike in the hope of capturing some atmospheric shots of the sunset. The lower slopes were engulfed in thick cloud, but it thinned out as he climbed. At the end of the day, Marc looked down on ?a world packed in cotton wool?, the soft evening light filtering through the mist. Berchtesgaden is the only national park in the German Alps. It protects more than 200 square kilometres of forest, valleys, glaciers and mountains. One of the wildest places in central Europe, it is home to red and roe deer, marmots, chamois and ibex. Golden eagles also breed there, at their northern limit in the European Alps. — Berchtesgaden National Park in the German Alps
Marc Graf

High and Wild by Marc Graf takes a very different approach to what we might lose. This shot of trees and rocks emerging from sunlit clouds was taken in Berchtesgaden, a national park in the German Alps.

Jaime Culebras's Image Jaime hoped to see this particular species of harlequin toad while working with a conservation group. The couple he found was in amplexus ? a mating behaviour in which a male fertilises eggs as they are released from a female?s body ? and may have remained so for weeks. To capture the toads? rich colours and patterns, Jaime carefully positioned flashes around the branch. The species pictured may be surviving, but, like many amphibians, it is vulnerable to a fungal disease that invades the surface layers of its skin. This fungus has contributed to most species of harlequin toad becoming endangered or extinct. Encouragingly, monitoring and land protection are now improving this toad?s chance of survival. — An intimate moment between harlequin toads
Jaime Culebras

Jaime Culebras’s The Happy Couple zooms in on mating harlequin toads in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Natural Park, Colombia. Most species of harlequin toads are endangered.

Lord Howe Island and its surrounding waters support the world???s southern-most tropical coral reef. The uniqu mix of tropical and temperate species and habitats is the result of converging currents. More than 318 species of marine algae occur here, 47 species (15%) are endemic. The unique algae-dominated reefs of the southern lagoon are a unique feature of Lord Howe Island???s marine ecosystem being explored by a Marine Ranger. — Marine ranger Caitlin Woods off the coast of Lord Howe Island
Justin Gilligan

Rich Reflections by was photographed off Lord Howe Island between Australia and New Zealand. The snorkeller among the extraordinary seaweeds is marine ranger Caitlin Woods.

Morgan Heim's Image Morgan Heim (USA) reveals an intimate encounter between a beetle and a rabbit. Morgan set up camera traps outside the burrows of pygmy rabbits in Washington State's Columbia Basin to observe their comings and goings. She was delighted to capture the moment one of the rabbits sniffed at a stink beetle that had been sheltering in its burrow. The beetle appears not to have felt threatened by the burrow owner, as typically when intimidated it rises its abdomen and releases a stink. The pygmy rabbit is the only indigenous North American rabbit to dig burrows, which, as Morgan discovered, provide shelter for many other species, including stink beetles, pygmy short-horned lizards and chipmunks. With their home in the Columbia Basin becoming increasingly overgrazed and cleared for crops, conservation efforts were required to protect these rabbits. Now, thanks to the introduction of captive-bred individuals, vaccination against infectious disease and protection of the shrub-steppe habitat, the Basin's pygmy rabbit population stands at about 150 and rising. — An interspecies showdown
Morgan Heim

A close encounter between a pygmy rabbit and a stink beetle – one of many species that take advantage of rabbit burrows – was captured in Burrow Mates by in Columbia Basin, Washington State.

Owen Hearn's Image Harvest time at Owen?s grandparents? farm draws in the birds of prey to feed on the fleeing small mammals, and it also attracts Owen, with his camera at the ready. ?Seeing this red kite with an aeroplane in the distance was a moment I couldn?t miss,? says Owen. The shot is symbolic for him for two reasons. It was taken at the centre of the Bedfordshire site chosen for London?s third airport back in the late 1960s. ?Opposition to the planned airport stopped it going ahead, which is why I can photograph the wildlife on the farm today.? At the same time, British red kites also faced extinction following centuries of persecution. But following reintroductions, numbers have increased dramatically, spreading east from the Chilterns. — A red kite takes flight in the UK
Owen Hearn

Flight Paths by Owen Hearn juxtaposes a close view of a red kite with the distant outline of a plane. It was taken at a site in Bedfordshire in the UK once earmarked for London’s third major airport. While the red kite’s recovery is a success story, the UK is one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries, says McCartney.

Laurent Ballesta (France) endures below-freezing dives to reveal the diversity of life beneath Antarctica?s ice. Living towers of marine invertebrates punctuate the seabed off Adelie Land, 32 metres under East Antarctic ice. At the centre, a tree-shaped sponge is draped with life, from giant ribbon worms to sea stars. The extreme conditions in Antarctica, as well as its isolation, are responsible for its remarkable underwater biodiversity. An estimated 17,000 marine invertebrate species are found here, many of which are found nowhere else in the world and are highly adapted and hence vulnerable to warming water temperatures. — Life beneath the ice off the coast of Antarctica
Laurent Ballesta

Laurent Ballesta’s Pyramid of Life shows the range of organisms below East Antarctica’s sea ice, including giant ribbon worms and sea stars.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is now in its 61st year, with judges choosing the best of 60,000 entries, up from 341 in 1965. The winners will be announced on 14 October.

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