Life and survival

The winning photo shows two male Saigas fighting on the shore of a steppe lake. The photo was taken by Andrey Giljov, a lecturer at the University of Saint Petersburg. He explains: “Fights between Saigas in spring are more for training than for establishing rank.” Saigas live in the steppes of Central Asia. During the rutting season in autumn, the males defend harems of around 30 females. They engage in intense fights that can lead to serious injuries. The stakes are high. Some males lose a third of their body weight during this period and risk death. Andrey explains: “To photograph the Saigas, we built a camouflaged shelter near the so-called ‘social arena’. We had to hide so as not to scare the animals away, otherwise they would not have come closer.”

Life at a time when there were no photos: Natalia Jagielska and her depiction of flying pterosaurs over the Jurassic Hebridean Basin.

In the “Life in motion” category, Natalia Jagielska impressed with her image of flying pterosaurs over the Jurassic Hebrides Basin. Natalia Jagielska is a postdoctoral researcher at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She explains: “The Hebrides Basin once covered what is now Scotland. The sea was teeming with life. Two pterosaur skeletons were found during the exploration of marine deposits. One pterosaur with a wingspan of 2.5 meters, known as Dearc, and a smaller pterosaur with a crest, called Ceoptera.” The image, from 170 million years ago, shows the reptiles hunting. Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates capable of flight. By the Cretaceous period, some pterosaurs had reached a wingspan of over ten meters. Natalia explains: “We described the two pterosaur skeletons using photos and X-ray Microtomography. Our observations showed that Dearc was a milestone in the evolution of flying pterosaurs compared to other pterosaurs.”

Alwin Hardenbol captured a spectacular shot with his photo of a jumping humpback whale.

Alwin Hardenbol, a postdoctoral researcher at the Natural Resources Institute Finland, took this spectacular photo of a humpback whale breaching from his boat. The jury selected the image as the runner-up in the “Life in Motion” category. Alwin explains: “To photograph a breach, you have to be constantly ready, as the best moment is over in a matter of seconds.” The jumping of humpback whales is a fascinating behavior, as its purpose is not yet clear. There are several theories, including communication, play, or the removal of skin parasites. As far as communication between the animals is concerned, jumping, together with other behaviors at the surface, produces loud noises, especially underwater. These can be heard from a great distance. It is not surprising that the jumping is so loud, as the animals weigh up to 40 tons. It is hard to imagine how such an animal can jump so high out of the water. For a jump as successful as the one in Alwin Hardenbol’s snapshot, humpback whales accelerate to a speed of almost 30 kilometers per hour.

Sritam Kumar Sethy became an explorer and photographed a perfectly camouflaged Asian grass frog.

A photograph by Sritam Kumar Sethy was awarded second place in the “Colorful Strategies” category. If you look closely, you can see an Asian grass frog. It is almost indistinguishable from the bark of the tree it is clinging to. Sritam explains: “The frog’s camouflage serves a dual purpose: it helps it escape predators such as snakes and birds, while also providing the perfect cover for ambushing prey. With patience and precision, it hunts small insects, millipedes, and worms, relying not on speed but on invisibility and timing.”

Original publication:

Harman, J., Fenton, B., Ferrier, D. et al.

2025 joint BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology image competition: the winning images.

BMC Ecol Evo 25, 80 (2025)

Published 15 August 2025

doi.org/10.1186/s12862-025-02423-6