"Rare Horseshoe Crab Takes Top Prize at Wildlife Photographer of the Year"

Laurent Ballesta has been named the Wildlife Photographer of the Year for 2023, becoming only the second photographer in the competition's history to win twice. His winning image features a golden horseshoe crab in the waters off Pangatalan Island, Philippines, with three small fishes tracking its movements. The photograph captures the contrast between the powerful and slow crab and the speedy and fragile fish. The Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year title was awarded to Carmel Bechler for his picture of two barn owls perched in a derelict building. Other category winners include images of toad tadpoles feasting on a dead sparrow, orcas "wave washing" seals, a tussle between two male Nubian ibexes, a beached orca, firefly flashes in the forest, and an ibex photographed after a cold night in the mountains.