Adorable Marmot In Fear As It’s Threatened By Fox Wins Wildlife Photo Of 2019

Playing around, a marmot jumped in fear after a young fox stood behind it undetected. The scene, which occurred within a split-second between prey and predator, dubbed the Moment has won the man who captured it – Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

The photographer, Yongqing Bao, who hails from Tibet took the picture on a Meadow in China’s Qilian Mountains National Nature Reserve has beaten the 48,000 entries from over 100 countries.

Earlier in the morning, the Marmot had seen the fox but felt the threat had disappeared when it ambled out of its burrow. Roz Kidman Cox, the Chairman of Judges explained that the shot was a perfect moment adding that ‘The expressive intensity of the postures would hold one at transfixed.’

Also revealing that the photo is a powerful moment of both horror and humor, the marmot encounter with the fox didn’t, however, end well. On the other hand, an exhibition of the photos in 19 categories will be opened at the Natural History Museum on Friday.

The Under-ten category was won by Thomas Easterbrook of Buckinghamshire, His shot titled ‘Humming surprise’ involved a hummingbird moth captured during a holiday in France.

Yongqing Bao won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2019 for his image taken in the Chinese province of Qinghai. Dubbed The Moment, Yongqing pictures a standoff between a Tibetan fox and a marmot, which seems frozen in fear. Chair of the judging panel, Roz Kidman Cox, says, ‘The expressive intensity of the postures would hold one at transfixed’

Cruz Erdmann, 14, who has been in love with the ocean won the award for Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2019 with his portrait of an iridescent big fin reef squid captured on a night dive in the Lembeh Strait off North Sulawesi, Indonesia

This photo named Land of the Eagle, by Audun Rikardsen was among the striking pictures vying for the top prize at the Natural History Museum in London. It was the 2019 winner of the Behaviour: Birds category

Jeremie Villet Frozen Moment was the 2019 winner of the Rising Star Portfolio Award at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. The image displays a Dall Sheep in Canada rubbing up against each other on a snowy backdrop

The Behaviour: Mammals category was also won by The Equal Match by Photographer, Ingo Arndt. The photo shows a puma in Patagonia attacking its prey. Arndt website says: ‘From early childhood, I have spent every single minute of my spare time outdoors in nature.

The Garden of Eels by photographer, David Doubilet is the winner of the Under Water category. It shows the ray-finned fish sway and feeds in the swift current off Dumaguete, Philippines, as other wildlife passes around them. David wrote on his Instagram Page: ‘These social creatures live in large colonies that extend large distances across the sand bottom. The creatures might look menacing but they are very delicate and vanishes the moment they detect your presence’

The Under-ten category was won by Thomas Easterbrook of Buckinghamshire, His shot titled ‘Humming surprise’ involved a hummingbird moth captured during a holiday in France.  A collection of the best photographs will go on display at London’s Natural History Museum, before touring the United Kingdom and internationally

Stefan Christmann’s The Huddle of emperor penguins in Antarctica is the winner of the Portfolio Award. In total, there were about 48,000 entries from different countries

Barred Migrant by Alejandro Prieto, is the 2019 winner of the Wildlife Photojournalist: Single Image category. Mr. Prieto is a professional Wildlife and Underwater Photographer from Guadalajara, México. His work is focused on Conservation Photography

Snow-plateau Nomads by Shangzhen Fan is the winner of the Animals in Their Environment category. His main focus is wild animals and he has been photographing wildlife for a decade. As a 30-year native of the Tibetan plateau, every mountain, river, tree, and bush in his hometown are familiar to him, Fan’s website reads

Pondworld by Manuel Plaickner is the 2019 winner of the Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles category. It shows frogs spawning with the incredible colors of the pond