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YOUR MAJESTIES

Deborah Russell

United Kingdom

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A brown bear on the mud flats inspects the fruits of its labour. With an incredible sense of smell, the bears locate the razor clams buried in the mud below and with powerful front paws and claws, dig the clams out of the mud.

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Honorable Mention

HANDS DOWN

A tender moment of a spring brown bear cub in the sedge grass meadow with his mother.   The young cub wanted to play but this now more experienced mother was hyper vigilant sniffing out other bears on the wind as they pose a threat to her offspring, which she tragically learnt the year before.

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UNDERLING

A powerful pose from these two handsome male lions from Team Tano coalition that have a strong brotherly bond.  In their prime with beautiful wind swept full manes.  To convey their true majesty, I got as low as possible to put them against the big open sky.

A brown bear on the mud flats inspects the fruits of its labour.  With an incredible sense of smell, the bears locate the razor clams buried in the mud below and with powerful paws, dig the clams up .  Bears have incredible dexterity, prising open the shells to access its nutrious contents.

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Nominee

The salmon had yet to run but this individual coastal brown bear got lucky where a creek met the sea.  Very quickly his fish of the day was demolished, with just the fishtail remaining,  as something caught his eye in the distance.

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FISH TAIL

They call her Long Nose and this year she has two spring cubs both still showing their natal collars.  Sadly, she lost her first cubs last year (2024) and maybe she learnt from that trajedy. She was hyper vigilant, stayed close to her cubs and loved them deeply.