2008 15-17 years old - Specially Commended
Tom Mills (United Kingdom)
Battle of the bears
'Three huge males in Spitsbergen, Norway, were tearing into a bearded seal carcass, as a starving female with a cub watched from nearby ice. Once two of the bears had moved away from the kill, the female swam over, drove off the remaining male and managed to feed for a few seconds. In the meantime, a male hauled up on the ice near the cub, whose frantic cries brought its mother to the rescue.' Pregnant polar bear females usually go into their den to overwinter and give birth. They usually have twins or, less often, single cubs. Female polar bears are very thin when they emerge from their dens after suckling their cubs, so they need to hunt.
Nikon D70 + Tamron 70-300mm lens at 300mm; 1/320 sec at f6.3.
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The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine.