24 stunning wildlife pictures from the Nat Geo photo contest - 1

An elephant herd takes some respite from the scorching heat and dry winds. A dust bath is their favourite way to beat the heat and keep the mosquitoes and other blood suckers at bay. The entire herd rests and rejuvenates together before resuming their colossal grazing.

A Shetland pony who's doing a spinning rear. I tried a new perspective by zooming in on his upper body, resulting in catching the movement in his mane.

An Atlantic puffin returns from the ocean with a mouthful of sand eels to feed its chicks waiting in the burrows beneath the green grass in eastern Iceland.

I spent the entire week on the live-aboard Nautilus Under Sea at Guadalupe Island diving with this spectacular animal. What an amazing experience to see for myself how graceful, yet how powerful the great white is. Ever since I was a child, I dreamed of one day diving with great whites. This close encounter with such a beautiful animal certainly did not disappoint!

Sandhill cranes taking flight after sunset at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in Kansas.

The black caiman ('Melanosuchus niger') is the largest species in the Alligatoridae family, sometimes attaining over 5 metres in length. This makes it the largest predator in the Amazon, an apex predator that feeds on a wide variety of smaller prey. This one is a juvenile that has years of growth ahead of it before it reaches the top of the food chain. At this point it likely feeds mostly on snails, small fish, and frogs. The oxbow lake where it and others live is visible directly behind the caiman.

I danced with a lively calf. He surrounded me and talked with eyes to eyes. Finally he tapped the tail on the water and went back to his mum.

Pictured is a brown bear in the midst of a short tumble as he was fishing atop Brooks Falls, Alaska during the annual salmon run. Anxious, aggressive and hoping to get a better angle at the leaping salmon, this bear reached out a bit too far and lost his footing. Splashing into the pool below unharmed, he eventually climbed back into his spot to wait for the next chance at a salmon.

I was lying on the beach during a stretch of fair weather at Volunteer Point in East Falkland, just waiting to capture a gentoo penguin jumping out of the surf. To my delight, a trio emerged from the water and walked straight in my direction. I really enjoyed photographing this moment as it seems to capture the unique personality of each bird. I saw three best friends, that from left to right, are the comedian, the ringleader, and the runway model.

We spotted a pride of lions sleeping on top of the kopjes in the Serengeti, and as we got closer to the rocks, we saw that there were quite a few cubs in that pride. The best moment was when three of the young cubs started chasing, playing and biting their mum's tail as if they were kittens that were playing with yarn. I can't remember when was the last time that I laughed so hard as I did watching these guys.

After hearing a questionable report that a fisherman may have spotted orcas, we spent the next four hours motoring all over, up and down the southern California coast looking for signs of this pod. Thankfully, conditions were glassy and we luckily were able to spot them even though our search area was enormous. This photo was captured while free diving.

We were following the Great Migration at the Serengeti. On that day our driver brought us to a waterhole where the migration was passing by. A lioness and her cubs were very relaxed as one of the cubs got bored and started playing with the zebras. He is still too young to hunt by himself, but he starts practising. He walked up to the zebras very calmly and suddenly started running; all zebras got scared and run away. The cub tried this same behaviour ten times.

He gently put his hand on his face. It was beautiful behaviour. I think that a monkey is an animal with feelings just like a human being. I think that close-up is the best way to capture their emotions.

A photo of a green turtle taken in long exposure with flash of the second-curtain strobe gives a speed impression.

Nesting place of the flamingos. Every year the flamingos arrive at the red lagoons of the Yucatan to make their nests. Last year they did not arrive due to climate change. This year they managed to return to the place of nesting, laying thousands of eggs. Many of them were out of the nest and I found this other one taking care of the baby until he was big enough to take care of himself.

Sleepy Red fox taking a nap on a bed of a white seagrass. Hokkaido, Japan.

A mother training her young calf on the ways of the world amidst the blooming water hyacinth on a river in North East India. They both seem to be enjoying the lesson and seem to be smiling from ear to ear!

Each year between the months of December and March, Northern California becomes the winter home to thousands of migratory bird—geese, egrets, ducks, herons and others. Aerial image photographed from a plane while flying at 120 miles per hour.

I was fortunate to find this whale totally relaxed and approaching our boat, this allowed me to carefully introduce my camera partially into the water to show his brilliant eye and smile. Protecting the wetlands ensures a safe haven for the breeding whales that migrate each year from Alaska to the mild waters of these coastal lagoons.

While exploring Freemansundet in East Spitsbergen I was in the middle of photographing birds when out of the corner of my eye I saw something fast moving on land. It was a polar bear running quickly, probably away from a larger bear it was competing with for food. This image combined with the background's melting glacier, that used to block boats from getting in the area, reinforces how this changing landscape is impacting these amazing creatures.

A leopard coming down from a tree and staring right into the camera.

These pelicans normally come to this sanctuary around December and until April they will be there. Mating, nesting, feeding to the chicks will happen during those four months. This picture was taken around nesting time when the birds will come down and pick the nesting materials and go to the nesting areas at the top of the tree to build the nest.

Coastal brown bear family. New mother with her first litter of cubs. They are about seven or eight months old. Mum proved to be an excellent fisher. She (usually) shared her catch with the cubs. Both cubs carried full little bellies off the beach this morning. Here they warily eye each other—they were continuously sparring while mum was fishing, and they look about to engage in mischief at this moment.

The early morning fog has not dispersed, two swans fly from a distance, forming a beautiful picture.