The Wildlife Photography Awards brings together some of the best nature photographers in the world.

As part of the competition, photography enthusiasts are invited to vote for their favourites among the entries.

Once those votes are tallied, the lucky recipient is handed the People’s Choice Award.

This year’s winner, reports BBC, is a photograph of a pair of male lions, titled Bond of Brothers and taken by David Lloyd, which beat out more than 45 000 entries to take the top spot.

“I’m so pleased that this image did well because it illustrates the emotion and feeling of animals and emphasises that this is not limited to humans,” says Lloyd, who is from New Zealand but living in London.

“It is something I think more people need to be aware of for the sake of all animals.”

The picture is on display at the Natural History Museum, along with others that received commendations.

Let’s get onto those other four, then.

Three king penguins on a beach in the Falkland Islands were the subject of Wim Van Den Heever’s picture:

Matthew Maran’s photograph shows a fox walking towards graffiti art in London:

A famished polar bear in the Canadian Arctic, as seen by Justin Hofman:

Hungarian photographer Bence Máté also features, with a picture of three painted wolves playing with the leg of an impala:

Beautiful.

Nature for the win.

[source:bbc]