The People's Choice winner of the 2026 Wildlife Photographer of the Year has been revealed: a young Iberian lynx tossing a rodent into the air in Ciudad Real, Spain. The image, by Josef Stefan of Austria, emerged victorious from over 60,000 entries and a 24-photo shortlist.
This moment captured a 20-minute hunting sequence before the lynx carried its prey behind a bush to eat. Once near extinction, the Iberian lynx population now exceeds 2,000 due to successful conservation efforts.
Other highly commended images include Alexandre Brisson’s flamingos against industrial power lines in Namibia and Christopher Paetkau’s polar bear family resting on Canada’s Hudson Bay coast.
Will Nicholl’s shot of bear cubs play-fighting in Jasper National Park, Canada, and Kohei Nagira’s haunting image of a sika deer carrying its dead rival’s head in Hokkaido, Japan, also drew wide acclaim.
