Wildlife Photographer of the Year: amazing mothers

In Tim Laman's image from the 2016 competition, the baby watches carefully to see which flower its mother is eating. Orangutan mothers pass on a wealth of important cultural information, including what to eat and how to find it.

Mama's Back - Ashleigh Scully

When this exhausted-looking female fox appeared through the trees, her cubs bounded over for some playtime that she couldn't turn down. 

Ashleigh Scully snapped the heart-warming scene outside her cabin at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. The resulting photograph featured in the 2015 competition.

She says, 'There was so much affection between them.'

Fox cubs are born in spring, and families stay together until autumn. Mothers regurgitate food for their cubs in the first couple of months of their lives, and then bring back live prey so that youngsters can develop hunting skills. By summer, visits to the den become less frequent, and the young learn to find food and fend for themselves.

A Mother's Courage - Linc Gasking

This brave Adélie penguin mother faced down the southern giant petrel that was menacing her chicks.

Linc Gasking's image of courageous motherhood was a Finalist for the 2015 People's Choice Award.

This mother's instinct to fight protect her young is displayed in myriad species across the animal kingdom.

Kuhirwa Mourns Her Baby - Ricardo Núñez Montero

This young mountain gorilla called Kuhirwa would not let go of her dead baby. She cuddled and cared for the tiny body, carrying it on her back like the other mothers in her group. Some weeks later, she started to eat the remains.

Ricardo Núñez Montero's scene of grief from the 2018 competition was taken at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda.

Kuhirwa's actions display obvious signs of a mother mourning her child. There is plenty of evidence to show that many animals, from dolphins to elephants, visibly express grief.

Mara Mama Calls - Darío Podestá

A mara mother returned to her burrow and whistled before three pups emerged. The female sniffed each one to make sure only her two young were suckled.

Darío Podestá captured the scene from a distance with a remote trigger for the 2016 competition.

Many pairs of Patagonian maras hide their young in the same den and return each day for the mother to suckle its offspring. These communal burrows offer extra protection from predators, as there is often more than one adult pair watching the den.

Mother Defender - Javier Aznar González de Rueda

This image of a mother guarding her young on the underside of a stem demonstrates the mothering behaviour that exists in many insects.

Javier Aznar González de Rueda found the treehopper by the kitchen of the forest lodge he was staying in.

The spiny projection on the treehopper's back is called a helmet, and is used to ward off predators. Once her eggs hatch, the young develop through five stages, and the devoted mother watches over them throughout.

Sunset Moment - Olivier Puccia

As the Sun began to set above Ramtek in Maharashtra, India, a mother and baby Hanuman langur embraced as they stared over the valley below.

Olivier Puccia found the highest point from which to photograph the glorious scene.

'It was a touching moment,' says Olivier, 'as though they were appreciating the sunset together.'

Pushed out of their forest homes by deforestation and the spread of human habitation, Hanuman langurs are now a familiar sight in many urban areas of India. Local people often feed the monkeys and revere them as the reincarnation of the Hindu deity Hanuman.

Visit Wildlife Photographer of the Year

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