. . . endangered bengal staring straight at the camera as it prowls the forest of bhutan is among incredible images in the wildlife photographer of the year competition

Tigerland by Emmanuel Rondeau, France, was taken in a remote forest in central Bhutan. Mr Rondeau set up cameras along one route, in the hope of glimpsing a tiger pass by. After 23 days (and hundreds of false triggers by leaves and high winds), he hit the jackpot: a magnificent male tiger. It came over and inspected the kit closely before disappearing into the forest

• Stunning photos highly commended in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year
• They include underwater images, life-and-death fights and unique scenes
• Picture show animals from all over the world, including Svalbard and Africa
• One sees a flying fish chased by a bird, another meerkats fighting a cobra

© Wayne Jones/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

This image taken by Wayne Jones, from Australia, shows a yellow pygmy goby off the coast of Mabini in the Philippines. The tiny fish, about 1.5inches long, is seen guarding its home – a discarded glass bottle. Its female companion will have laid several batches of eggs inside the bottle, and so the male performs guard duty at the entrance

© Julius Kramer/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Two adorable lynx kittens are seen having a playfight in Germany’s Upper Bavarian Forest, captured by local photographer Julius Kramer using a camera trap. He had waited more than a year to photograph them in the wild, and was awarded by these two six-month-olds one snowy day

© Valter Bernadeschi/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Aptly titled ‘Mister Whiskers’ this photo, taken by Italian snapper Valter Bernardeschi, shows walruses feeding off an island in the Norwegian archipelago off Svalbard. A few curious walruses approached him and he was able to take this intimate portrait

© Emily Garthwaite/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

This sun bear was captured by UK photographer Emily Garthwaite as it stared out of its filthy cage at a zoo in Sumatra, Indonesia. Sun bears, the world’s smallest bear, are critically endangered. They are threatened by rampant deforestation and the demand for their bile and organs for traditional Chinese medicine. When this sun bear saw its keeper, Ms Garthwaite says it started screaming in fear

© Sue Forbes/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Sue Forbes from the UK captured this amazing moment a booby hunts a flying fish northeast of D’Arros Island in the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. Before breaking the surface to escape predators such as tuna and marlin, flying fish build up tremendous speed under water, to glide, airborne, on their stiff pectoral fins. Sue snapped the perfect image as the fish leapt out of the water and the booby went for it. However, the fish got away

© Isak Pretorius/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

South African photographer Isak Pretorius captured the moment a lioness emerged to drink from a waterhole in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park. With perfect timing, Isak caught her gaze and her tongue, lapping the water

© Greg Lecoeur/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

This photo has been named ‘Life among litter’ and shows a Sargassumfish in the Indonesian archipelago of Raja Ampat. This frogfish normally uses seaweed as a shelter and camouflage but due to the pollution of the oceans it now swims in plastic

© Adrian Bliss/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Adrian Bliss form the UK was exploring a derelict school in Pripyat, Ukraine, a city abandoned in 1986 following the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, when a fox walked in and stopped on the discarded gas masks. The city lies within the 19-mile exclusion zone, which only accredited individuals can enter, and in the absence of humans, the forest is moving back in. Animals such as wild boar, deer, moose and lynx are making a comeback

© Paul Mckenzie/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Flying over the Southern Ewaso Ng’iro River delta, on the border of Kenya and Tanzania, photographer Paul Mckenzie was mesmerized by the network of tendrils, tinged green with algae, spreading through the river sediment and the flamingos feeding among them

© Tertius-A-Gous/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

A meerkat pack reacted swiftly when this Anchieta’s cobra moved towards two pups near their warren on Namibia’s Brandberg Mountain. The rest of the pack – foraging nearby – rushed back and while one group brough the pups to safety, the others took on the snake

© Nicholas Dyer/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

A pair of African wild dog pups play a macabre game of tag with the head of a chacma baboon – the remains of their breakfast - in Mana Pools National Park, northern Zimbabwe. Photographer Nicholas Dyer from the UK saw the pack seize a baboon and feeding it to the pups. They stopped short of the baboon’s skull, and then the fun began. Mr Dyer, lying nearby, watched more than half an hour of chasing, tackling and tugs of war with the leftovers

© Adam Hakim Hogg/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Adam Hakim Hogg was highly commended in the 11-14-year-old category after photographing this Titiwangsa horned tree lizard fighting a centipede on the road near his home in Pahang, Malaysia

© Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

An Asian sheepshead wrasse sets out to impress females and see off rivals with his protruding pink forehead off the coast of Japan’s remode Sado Island

Tigerland by Emmanuel Rondeau, France, was taken in a remote forest in central Bhutan. Mr Rondeau set up cameras along one route, in the hope of glimpsing a tiger pass by. After 23 days (and hundreds of false triggers by leaves and high winds), he hit the jackpot: a magnificent male tiger. It came over and inspected the kit closely before disappearing into the fores