In Photos: 2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Witness by Emily Garthwaite, UK Highly commended, Wildlife Photojournalist Award: Single Image One of several sun bears kept behind the scenes at a zoo in Sumatra, Indonesia, in appalling conditions. Sun bears are the world’s smallest bears, now critically endangered. In the lowland forests of Southeast Asia, they spend much of their time in trees, eating fruit and small animals, using their claws to prise open rotten wood in search of grubs. They are threatened by rampant deforestation and the demand for their bile and organs for traditional Chinese medicine.

Photograph: Emily Garthwaite/2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Tigerland by Emmanuel Rondeau, France Highly commended, Animals in their environment In a remote forest, high in the Himalayas of central Bhutan, a Bengal tiger fixes his gaze on the camera. The path he treads is part of a network linking the country’s national parks – corridors that are key to the conservation of this endangered subspecies but unprotected from logging and poaching.

Photograph: Emmanuel Rondeau/2014 Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The meerkat mob by Tertius A Gous, South Africa Highly commended, Behaviour: Mammals When an Anchieta’s cobra reared its head and moved towards two meerkat pups near their warren on Namibia’s Brandberg Mountain, the rest of the pack – foraging nearby – reacted almost instantly. Rushing back, the group split into two: one group grabbed the pups and huddled a safe distance away, the other took on the snake. Tails raised, the mob edged forwards, growling. When the snake lunged, they sprang back. This was repeated over and over for about 10 minutes. Finally, the cobra gave up and disappeared

Photograph: Tertius-A-Gous/2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year