Bence Mate / Leaf cutter ant (Atta sp) female worker carrying leaf to nest, with a smaller 'minor' ant riding. The minor's job is to protect her sister from parasitic flies. Costa Rica, December. Highly Commended,...

Tony Heald / Hippopotamus {Hippopotamus amphibius} territorial defense at water edge, Chobe national park, Botswana.

Ripan Biswas / Portrait of an ant-mimicking crab spider. (Amyciaea sp) raising its legs to warn the photographer. Buxa tiger reserve, India.

Stefan Christmann / Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes fosteri) male peering out, looking over the huddle during polar night, Antarctic winter, Atka Bay, Antarctica. July. Bookplate.

Alex Mustard / Saddleback anemonefish (Amphiprion polymnus) barks a warning as it guards a clutch of developing eggs (beneath it) laid on a small stone, below a fold in its home, a Haddon's sea anemone (Stichoda...

Simon Littlejohn / Juvenile Lammergeier vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) in flight, mobbed by a raven, Grand Bargy cirque, Haute Savoie, France, October.

Simon Littlejohn / Mute swans (Cygnus olor) hissing and lunging at a European otter (Lutra lutra), River Stour, Dorset, England, UK, June.

Sven Zacek / Ural Owl (strix uralensis) female with talons ready to attack a ringing ornithologist, Tartumaa county, Southern Estonia. May.

Franco Banfi / Octopus, (Octopus vulgaris), splashing a cloud of ink and swim away with Bearded fireworm, (Hermodice carunculata) who want to eat a small octopus, top of the wall of Bisevo, Vis Island, Croatia, Adri...

Dave Bevan / Slow motion clip of a Great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) returning to nest hole, attacked by a Nuthatch (Sitta europaea), Carmarthenshire, Wales, UK, April.

Tony Heald / African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) herd showing defensive behaviour as an African lioness (Panthera leo) walks by, Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. September.

Tony Heald / Lion (Panthera leo) moving away from a defensive African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe.

Matthew Maran / Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) cub defending its kill,a large Brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) from another cub, North London, UK. August. Highly commended in the Behaviour : Mammals Category of the Wildlife Ph...

Morley Read / Slow motion clip of a Linnaeus' sipo snake (Chironius exoletus) with open mouth, part of threat display, Amazon rainforest, Orellana Province, Ecuador.

Morley Read / Parrot snake (Leptophis ahaetulla) threat display, Amazon rainforest, Orellana Province, Ecuador.

John Shaw / Common eider duck (Somateria mollissima) female defending her nest from arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus). Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen. June.

Espen Bergersen / Aerial shot of a female Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) and calf surrounded by Killer whales (Orcinus orca), mother hits sideways with her tail fluke to drive Killer whales away, Skjervoy, Tro...

Konrad Wothe / Larvae of Birch sawfly (Craesus septentrionalis) in alarm position, Upper Bavaria, Germany. October.

John Chan / Western gulls (Larus occidentalis) attacking an Elegant tern (Thalasseus elegans) with a broken wing, Southern California, USA, April.

Tony Wu / Sardines (Clupeidae) fleeing from predators in the early morning. They were being herded and chased by Trevallies and Blacktip reef sharks in the water, and picked off by brown boobies and terns from...

Georgette Douwma / Boxer Crab (Lybia tessellata) with sea anemones in its claws for defense. Lembeh Strait, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Guy Edwardes / Mozambique spitting cobra (Naja mossambica) spitting venom. Kruger, South Africa. Controlled conditions.

Robert Valentic / Eastern tiger snake (Notechis scutatus) female, Yarra River corridor in suburban Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in mid-summer. She is in a defensive pre-strike position with hood expanded, accompanie...

Konrad Wothe / Slow motion clip of Wood ants (Formica rufa) on anthill, squirting formic acid to repel threat, Bavaria, Germany, April.

Five Films / Female Grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) defending pup on beach, chasing male away, Horsey, Norfolk, November.

Lucas Bustamante / Tropical shield mantis (Choeradodis rhombicollis) in defensive position, on flower, Chinambi, Carchi, Ecuador.

Remi Masson / Group of Black bullhead (Ameiurus melas) shoaling to protect themselves against predators, River Rhone, Rhone-Alpes, France, July.

Robert Thompson / Sawfly larvae (Nematus pavidus) defensive posture, Peatlands Park, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. September.

Jordi Chias / European barracuda (Sphyraena sphyraena) and Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) circling baitball of Atlantic horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) Formigas Islets, Azores. Finalist in the Underwater Categ...

Alex Mustard / Brandt's cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) hunts for a meal in a school of Pacific chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus), beneath an oil rig. Eureka Rig, Los Angeles, California, United States of Ame...

Alex Hyde / Silk moth (Automeris zugana) sequence 2 of 2, with wings open to reveal eyespots, a means of deterring predators, photographed on a white background in mobile field studio, Cordillera de Talamanca mou...

Ingo Arndt / Prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis viridis), threat display, South Dakota, USA September. Sequence 1 of 3

Mark Taylor / Black-and-white kitten, Loona, age 11 weeks, arching back.

Bence Mate / Herring gull (Larus argentatus) mobbing White tailed sea eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) with fish prey, Lake Csaj, Kiskunsagi National Park, Hungary. March.

Bence Mate / Gull mobbing White tailed sea eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) with fish prey, Lake Csaj, Kiskunsagi National Park, Hungary. March.

Bence Mate / Juvenile White tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)in flight, with Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) mobbing it, Lake Csaj, Kiskunsagi National Park, Pusztaszer, Hungary. January.

Bence Mate / Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) mobbing Buzzard (Buteo buteo) Lake Csaj, Kiskunsagi National Park, Pusztaszer, Hungary. January.

Luis Quinta / Grass snake (Natrix natrix) juvenile playing dead, Alvao, Portugal, April.

Edwin Giesbers / Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus) baring teeth as a sign of submission, Gibraltar Nature Reserve, Gibraltar,

Alex Mustard / Backlit detail of branching fire coral (Millepora alcicornis) showing the hair like polyps, filled with stinging nematocysts. East End, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. Caribbean Sea.

Staffan Widstrand / Raven (Corvus corax) mobbing Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus), Hornoya Island, Varanger Peninsula, Norway, March.

Anup Shah / Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) male juvenile aged about 18 months approaching a kill, wide angle view. Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya.

Silke Arndt / Western rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis viridis), threat display, South Dakota, USA, September.

John Cancalosi / Western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox), defensive rattling, Arizona, USA, April.

Ole Jorgen Liodden / Arctic tern (Sterna paridisea) mobbing, Arctic fox (Alopex lagopus) in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway, July.

Solvin Zankl / Black backed jackal (Canis mesomelas) attacking Cape fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus) pup, Sperrgebiet National Park, Namibia, December. Sequence 3/6

Bence Mate / Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) mobbing Euasian Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) Pusztaszer, Hungary, June.

Paul D Stewart / Restoration of the Iguanodon by Alice B. Woodward from Lydekker's The Royal Natural History' Frederick Warne and co, 1896. This is one of the first reconstructions to correctly show the Iguanodon's th...