Some of the 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Photos Kinda Had Me Shook

"If Penguins Could Fly:" A gentoo penguin flees for its life in response to an attacking leopard seal. The predator toyed with the penguin for around 15 minutes prior to finally ending its torment.
Image: by Eduardo Del Álamo, Spain


“Beach Waste:” Taken at Alabama’s Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, this photo shows a dead sea turtle still attached to the discarded lawn chair that choked it.
Image: Matthew Ware, USA


“Last Gasp”
Image: Adrian Hirschi, Switzerland
He chased the mother, then seized the calf in his huge gape, clearly intent on killing it. After trying to drown it, he tried to crush it to death. All the while, the distraught mother looked on. Adrian’s fast reaction and fast exposure captured the shocking drama. Infanticide among hippos is rare but may result from the stress caused through overcrowding when their day-resting pools dry out. A male may also increase his reproductive chances by killing young that are not his, triggering females to go into oestrus, ready to mate with him. Male hippos are also aggressively territorial, and brutal fights are not uncommon.


“The Climbing Dead.” Image: Frank Deschandol

A photo by Frank Deschandol shows a rather unfortunate weevil that was victimized by a parasitic zombie fungus. The NHM explains:

On a night-time fieldtrip in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, Frank spotted this bizarre-looking weevil clinging to a fern stem. Its glazed eyes showed it was dead, and the three antennae-like projections growing out of its thorax were the ripe fruiting bodies of a ‘zombie fungus’. Spreading inside the weevil while it was alive, the parasitic fungus had taken control of its muscles and compelled it to climb. When it was at a suitable height—for the fungus—the weevil held fast to the stem. Fuelled by the weevil’s insides, the fungus then started to grow fruiting bodies topped by capsules that would release a multitude of tiny spores to infect new prey. Similar ‘zombie fungi’ are known to parasitize other insects.