Animals Take Center Stage in Nature Photographer of the Year 2024

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A melanistic fox and a red fox walk closely together on the left. On the right, a tiger cub lies on an ornate, elegant sofa with a floral tapestry backrest.

The winners of Nature Photographer of the Year 2024 have been announced with Paola Della Rocca walking away with the top prize.

Della Rocca captured what many consider to be the “holy grail” of wildlife photography: snow leopards. The Italian photographer got a photo of not one but two snow leopards while in the Spita Valley of northern India.

Two snow leopards playfully interact on a snow-covered landscape. Their spotted coats blend with the rocky, snowy terrain as they leap toward each other, surrounded by sparse patches of brown and gray rocks.

“This year, during my search for this mysterious feline, I was lucky enough to encounter a pair of sub-adult siblings and to capture them at different moments in their lives,” Della Rocca says.

“The most incredible day of this experience was February 1st. This image was anything but easy to obtain. I waited over six hours at the edge of a canyon as the two siblings rested in a cave. The cold—reaching -25 degrees and intensified by a snowstorm—seeped into my bones.”