The best animal photos of 2023, from hyenas to southern stingrays

This noticed hyena (Crocuta crocuta) pup is a pure in entrance of the digicam, whereas its mom and sibling hold a watchful eye within the background. This playful shot was taken by Wim van den Heever in Amboseli Nationwide Park in southern Kenya.

Because the solar rises off the coast of the Cayman Islands, a southern stingray (Dasyatis americana) prowls the sandy seabed on this putting split-level snap by photographer Alex Mustard.

Mustard additionally captured this vibrantly fluorescent oddity, referred to as the sap-sucking slug (Costasiella kuroshimae), creeping throughout inexperienced algae simply off the coast of northern Indonesia. Two beady eyes sit shut collectively on its face, whereas spotty inexperienced leaf-like appendages referred to as cerata sprout from its physique. These sea slugs have the particular skill of preserving the chloroplasts within the algae they feed on, which suggests they’ll carry out photosynthesis.

Deep within the Finnish woods, Andy Rouse snapped this motion shot of a Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) shaking itself dry after a fast dip in a pond. These mammals can weigh as much as 480 kilograms and are generally discovered throughout japanese Europe and Russia.

Within the grasslands of the Rhodope mountains in Bulgaria, Guy Edwardes took this vibrant image of a noticed fritillary (Melitaea didyma) larva. It should finally rework right into a butterfly, whose wings – hints of which might already be seen alongside its again – can be vibrant orange with brown spots.

An impressive white-winged snowfinch (Montifringilla nivalis) braves a snowstorm within the Swiss Alps on this {photograph} by Mateusz Piesiak. They’re comparatively massive, sturdy birds, measuring as much as 19 centimetres tall. Their distinctive orange-yellow payments are seasonal, turning into black in the summertime.

This bemused fruit bat is having its nose and throat swabbed as a part of efforts within the Republic of the Congo to raised perceive how zoonotic ailments, akin to Ebola, might leap to individuals. Round 100 fruit bats have had their blood and saliva samples taken by researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Congolese Basis for Medical Analysis.