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Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017 at Nature in Art

A curious fox cub, hungry hornbill and inquisitive orca all play a starring role in images from the finalists of Wildlife Photographer of the Year's 52nd competition.

The world-renowned exhibition goes on show at Nature in Art as one of the first venues in the country to show it following its launch at the Natural History Museum last October.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is a Global platform for the world's best nature photography, showcasing the planet's most extraordinary and revelatory sights. This year's competition was the most competitive to date, attracting almost 50,000 entries from professionals and amateurs accross 95 countries.

Judged by a panel of international experts, winning images are selected for their combination of creativity, originality and technical excellence.

The exhibition features the highly anticipated collection of 100 exceptional images, which reveal the astonishing diversity of life on our planet and highlight our crucial role in protecting it.

The images also embark on an international tour spanning six continents, bringing the majesty and wonder of the natural world to millions.

American photographer Tim Laman won Wildlife Photographer of the Year 52 with his image, Entwined Lives. It frames a critically endangered Bornean orangutan above the Indonesian rainforest. Tim spent three days rope-climbing the 30 metre tall tree to set several GoPro cameras that he could trigger remotely. This captured the orangutan's face from above within a wide-angle perspective of the forest below.

Wild orangutans face crisis of habitat loss due to agriculture and logging. Combined with increased poaching for illegal pet trade, the species' future seems bleak.

'Protecting their remaining habitat is critical for orangutans to survive. If we want to preserve a great ape that retains its vast culturally transmitted knowledge of how to survive in the rainforest and the full richness of wild orangutan behaviour, then we need to protect orangutans in the wild, now' says Tim.

Sir Michael Dixon, Director of The Natural History Museum, London, which runs the competition, comments: 'Wildlife Phototographer of the Year highlights some of the big questions for society and the environment: How can we protect boidiversity? Can we learn to live in harmony with nature? The winning images touch our hearts and challenge us to think differently about the natural world'.

Sixteen year old Gideon Knight from the UK won the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year with his image, The Moon and the Crow. Shot near his London home it shows the twigs of a sycamore tree silhouetted against the blue dusk sky and the full moon. This 'makes it feel almost supernatural, like something out of a fairy tale', says Gideon.

'If an image could create a poem, it would be like this. It should certainly inspire a few lines', says Lewis Blackwell, Chair of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year jury. 'The image epitomises what the judges are always looking for - a fresh observation on our natural world, delivered with artistic flair'.

These two overall winning images were selected from the 16 category winners - Animals in their Environment, Animal Portraits, Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles, Behaviour: Birds, Behaviour: Invertebrates, Behaviour: Mammals, Plants and Fungi, Under Water, Urban Wildlife, Earth's Environments, Black and White, Creative Visions, Wildlife Photojournalist: Single Image, Wildlife Photojournalist: Photo Story, Rising Star Portfolio Award (aged 26 and over). The young photographers competition was split by age into just three categories - 10 years and under, 11-14 years and 15-17 years.