Federico Veronesi wins Wildlife Photographer of the Year for elephant and dead calf image
Italian photographer Federico Veronesi has won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award for an image of a desert elephant carrying a dead calf in Namibia, organisers say.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
The Natural History Museum has announced the winner of this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year award. The overall prize went to Italian photographer Federico Veronesi for an image called The Aftermath. It shows an elephant in Namibia carrying a dead calf.
Organisers said the competition received a record-breaking number of entries, more than 65,000 from 121 countries. The contest has run since 1965 and celebrates the natural world. Its 19 categories cover urban wildlife, underwater photography, mammals, amphibians and reptiles, as well as the work of young photographers, including those aged 10 and under. A panel of seven experts judges the images anonymously on creativity, technical excellence and originality.
Veronesi was in Amboseli National Park in Kenya when he received the news, although he said it would have been good to be in London. The photograph was taken in northwestern Namibia, in one of the dry rivers that flow into the Skeleton Coast National Park. The elephants there are desert-adapted. He described a female elephant carrying a deceased baby by wedging the baby's leg between her trunk and her tusk. He called it an extremely fascinating behaviour that is not frequently seen and said it reveals an incredible depth of feelings and emotions. He also said that after 20 years of photographing animals, it was the most heartbreaking, fascinating and dramatic photo he had taken.
Speaking to researchers changed his understanding of the scene. He had initially thought the elephant was the mother of the dead calf, but researchers recognised her as a female that had lost a calf several years earlier. She had previously picked up dead calves belonging to other females. Veronesi said she had had a miscarriage a couple of years before and had since been attracted to picking up and carrying dead babies of other females. He described the behaviour as fascinating and complex. He also said he felt he was almost violating the privacy and intimacy of the moment, but later realised how important it was for the story to be told.
Other winning images were highlighted. In the urban wildlife category, Seth Foreston lowered himself into the mud to capture a water lizard against a city skyline. The image was taken in Bangkok and shows a water monitor lizard that had taken a fish from a lake and attracted the attention of others. Such lizards live in cities across south and southeast Asia and will take whatever food is available, including catfish and koi. Another photographer described taking a picture of a dung beetle in Victoria Falls near their home, rolling dung slowly past their foot with flies following closely behind. The photographer only noticed the flies afterwards.
An exhibition of 100 selected images opens at the Natural History Museum on Friday.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Reported by all 2 channels | ||
| The overall winner was the photograph Aftermath by Italian photographer Federico Veronesi, which shows an elephant in Namibia carrying a dead calf. | ||
| Only on one channel | ||
| Researchers identified the elephant in the winning photograph as a female that had lost a calf years earlier and had carried other females' dead calves. | Not reported by BBC One | |
| Seth Foreston won the urban wildlife category for a photograph of a common water lizard against a city skyline. | Not reported by BBC One | |
| The contest received a record number of entries, reported as more than 65,000 submissions from 121 countries. | Not reported by BBC News | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The BBC ONE West bulletins treated the award as a colourful arts and environment item. They led with the competition's history, the record number of entries and the winning elephant image, then gave space to the exhibition and to other category winners. The tone was warm and descriptive, with photographer quotes and a light close into weather.
- “Nature in extraordinary eye-catching detail.”
- “This is the overall winner, the Aftermath by Italian photographer Federico Veronesi. It shows an elephant in Namibia carrying a dead calf.”
- “An exhibition of 100 selected images opens at the Natural History Museum on Friday.”
BBC NEWS used the Context segment to focus on the overall winner and his personal account. It gave more detail on the photographer's reaction from Kenya, the elephant's behaviour and what researchers concluded about the animal. It paid less attention to the competition's history and the exhibition than the BBC ONE West bulletins.
- “this year's overall winner Federico Veronesi took this photo of an elephant carrying a dead calf.”
- “I'm in Amboseli National Park in Kenya land of elephants”
- “this was actually not the mother but this is a female elephant who had a miscarriage a couple of years before”
Broadcast Timeline
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