The sloth was spotted crossing a road in Costa Rica's Alajuela province, where habitat fragmentation means it has to spend more time on the ground to reach the next tree. (Photo: Emmanuel Tardy/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
A poignant photograph of a sloth clinging tightly to barbed wire after crossing a road in Costa Rica is one of the winning/shortlisted images featured in an exclusive preview of the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
The brown-throated three-toed sloth (Bradypus variegatus) was spotted by French photographer Emmanuel Tardy in the rural El Tanque area of Alajuela province. Traffic slowed as the sloth crossed the road and headed for a fence post, the closest thing to a tree, according to a statement from the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London, which hosts the annual competition.
Tardy waited until the crowd had dispersed before snapping a photo titled “There’s No Place Like Home.” The photo highlights the challenges sloths face in Costa Rica, where habitat fragmentation has forced the animals to spend more time on the ground, moving between trees, Wildlife Photographer of the Year organizers said in a statement emailed to Live Science. The country’s government is currently working with nongovernmental organizations to create corridors for wildlife to access its forest.
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The sloth photo was published along with 15 other preview images from the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. This year, more than 60,000 entries were submitted, the highest number in the competition's history.
The jury will select a total of 100 winners, whose names will be announced on October 14.
Other notable images include a confrontation between a cobra and a lion in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park. Photographer Gabriella Comi from Italy took the photo, dubbed “Wake-up Call,” after her guide spotted the snake sneaking up on a pair of sleeping lions. According to a statement from NHM, one of the females suddenly woke up and came face to face with the snake.
Gabriella Comi's painting “Wake Up Call” depicts a lion facing off against a cobra.
In another recent image, titled “Nature Reclaims Its Space,” Indian photographer Sitaram Rahul captured fruit bats leaving their dens inside a historical monument in Banda, Maharashtra. He worked in the dark, relying on his camera’s flash to capture the exodus, and said the bats “were randomly shitting on me and the camera,” according to Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
Sitaram Raoul's photograph, Nature Reclaims Its Space, shows fruit bats leaving their sanctuaries in Maharashtra.
Other photographs show a huge cluster of jellyfish off the coast of California, emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) walking along the edge of an ice shelf, and an elephant making its way through a “toxic patch” in Sri Lanka.
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Ralph Pace's “Jelly Summer” features a swarming jellyfish in Monterey Bay, California. (Photo: © Ralph Pace/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
(Image credit: © Bertie Gregory/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
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“As a believer in the power of photography, there is nothing more inspiring and moving to me than seeing our relationship with the natural world in all its complexity and splendor,” said Katie Moran, chair of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year jury, in a competition statement.
You can see the rest of the first images below.
Isaac Sabo's painting “Fragile River of Life” depicts a female longnose gar in Columbia County, Florida, surrounded by males during mating season.
Bidyut Kalita's Special Delivery depicts a pottery wasp building a clay chamber on a painting frame in Assam, India.
Jassen Todorov's Golden Clouds depicts clouds reflected in the salt ponds of San Francisco Bay.
'Slime Mold Family Portrait' by Kutub Uddin captures the reproductive parts of slime molds on a fallen tree in England.
Jamie Smart's painting 'The Call of the Rut' depicts a red deer roaring during the autumn rut in England.
Parham Pourahmad's “A Tale of Two Coyotes” captures a pair of coyotes in Bernal Heights Park, California.
Marina Cano's painting Deadly Lessons depicts three young cheetahs after the capture of Guenther the dik-dik in Samburu National Reserve, Kenya.
Keshav Vikram's painting “The Essence of Kamchatka” depicts a lone bear strolling along the shore against the backdrop of the Ilyinsky volcano in Russia's Far East.
Liane Kuster's photograph, “Pink Pose,” captures a flamingo in France scratching its head.
Amit Eshel's photograph, “Inside the Pack,” captures a pack of all-white Arctic wolves in Nunavut, Canada. Disclaimer
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is developed and run by the Natural History Museum, London.
Hannah OsborneSocial Links Editor
Hannah Osborne is the Earth and Animals Editor at Live Science. Before that, she spent several years as Science Editor at Newsweek. Before that, she was Science Editor at International Business Times UK. Hannah holds an MA in Journalism from Goldsmiths, University of London.
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