The 2015 Wildlife Photographer of the Year award was given to Don Gutoski, a Canadian amateur photographer, for his image "Tale of two foxes" this week.
The London Natural History Museum announced its award winners in both the adult and
youth categories this week, The Guardian reported. The exhibition of the
Wildlife Photographer of the Year, which opens Friday, will feature more than 100 images at the Waterhouse Gallery, the museum announced.
The exhibition will run through April 10.
The winning photo by Gutoski shows a red fox clutching the dead carcass of an Arctic fox in snowy Wapusk National Park along Canada's Hudson Bay.
"Red foxes don't actively hunt Arctic foxes, but where the ranges of two predators overlap, there can be conflict," The Guardian wrote. "Though the light was poor, the snow-covered tundra provided the backdrop for the moment that the red fox paused with the smaller fox in its mouth in a grim pose."
According to BBC News, wildlife guides had talked about witnessing conflicts between red and Arctic foxes in the past but it is believed the photograph was one of the first times it was actually captured on camera.
"It's the best picture I've ever taken in my life," Gutoski told the BBC News. "It's the symmetry of the heads, the bodies and the tails — even the expression on the faces."
Kathy Moran, a National Geographic senior editor for natural history projects, sat on the museum's judging panel, which sorted through 42,000 entries from nearly 100 countries.
She said that the grand prize-winning photograph seemed understated for its subject matter.
"It doesn't come across as gory at all," Moran told the BBC. "In fact, when you first look at the picture, it's almost as if the red fox is taking off his winter coat."
Moran said that, as the climate continues to warm, man sees more conflict between two "cousins" such as the red and Arctic foxes.
"As it gets warmer in the Arctic and sub-Arctic and the red fox can move further north into the territory occupied by the Arctic fox, you are going to get increasingly these kinds of tensions," she added.
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