Photographer Page

Stefano Unterthiner

Two Svalbard reindeer battle for control of a harem in Svalbard, Norway, in this image, which won the Mammal Behavior category. Italian photographer Stefano Unterthiner followed these reindeer during the mating season. Watching the fight, he felt immersed in “the smell, the noise, the fatigue, and the pain,” he says. The reindeer clashed antlers until the dominant male, on the left, chased its rival away, securing the opportunity to breed.

A Komodo dragon basks in the sun at Komodo National Park. The rare reptiles are ectotherms, meaning their energy levels shift as their body temperature does.

A red-necked wallaby joey and its mother cozy up in Bunya Mountains National Park in Queensland, Australia. Red-necked, or Bennett’s, wallabies have short pregnancies of just a month, and their newborns aren’t much bigger than a jellybean. These adaptations mean that, like other marsupials, much of a young wallaby’s development takes place in the mother’s pouch. After birth, the newborn climbs into its mother’s pouch, where it stays for about nine months. Once the joey has left the pouch, the mother suckles it for another four to five months, according to Smiseth. By that time, the joey may have company. Wallaby moms can juggle three joeys at the same time: one in the uterus, another in the pouch, and a third that has already left the pouch. This may seem like a lot of parenting to handle, but one of the Bennett’s wallaby’s relatives takes it a step further. The swamp wallaby, scientists recently discovered, usually conceives a day or two before giving birth—making it the only animal that’s always pregnant.

Singapore's otter families all have names. Here, the Bishan family crosses a street in the city center.

After spending the morning fishing, the Bishan family rest ashore for a few hours.

In Singapore's Marina Bay, an otter dines on a fish.

Otters from the Bisham family react to a dog in Bay East Garden. Local groups are trying to minimize negative interactions between people, pets, and otters.

Pups of the Bishan family, only a few months old, swim behind their relatives in search of fish.

The Bishan otter family are among the most photographed of the 10 otter groups in Singapore.