Stunning images of nature and wildlife across Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and some Pacific islands are recognised each year in the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition. Here are some of this year’s winners.
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MAT BEETSON
This image of sharks circling a beached whale in Western Australia was the overall winner, with judges saying it revealed “incredible beauty in death”
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FLLOYD MALLON
The junior prize was won by 17-year-old Flloyd Mallon, for this shot of a lightning storm in New South Wales
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PETE MCGEE
A crested horn shark feeds on the egg case of a Port Jackson shark in Sydney
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ROSS GUDGEON
Decorator crabs in Indonesia attach stinging hydroids – aquatic invertebrates – to themselves to ward off predators
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CHARLES DAVIS
Eastern grey kangaroos in Kosciuszko National Park, New South Wales
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NEIL PRITCHARD
Water cascades through the Barron Falls in Queensland during flood season
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ETIENNE LITTLEFAIR
A Mertens’ water monitor approaches photographer Etienne Littlefair’s camera in the Northern Territory
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CHARLES DAVIS
A mother and baby wombat make their way to a neighbouring wombat’s hole in New South Wales
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SCOTT PORTELLI
Male humpback whales swim past dolphins while looking for a female mate, in waters off Tonga
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MELISSA WILLIAMS-BROWN
A dry creek in Menindee Lakes, a drought-stricken part of Australia, where animal deaths have caused alarm
All photographs subject to copyright as marked.
