The picture of an Iberian lynx playing with its prey has gained the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award for 2026.
Standing on its hind legs with one paw flung out, the lynx appears each playful and predatory, batting round an unlucky rodent as a precursor to killing and consuming it.
More than 85,000 folks voted in the annual competition organized by London’s Natural History Museum, selecting between 24 shortlisted images. That shortlist was chosen from 60,636 complete entries, and is separate to the total competitors, whose winner was announced in October.
2026 Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice finalists
The profitable shot in the People’s Choice competitors was taken by Austrian photographer Josef Stefan, who captured the second after spending three days camouflaged in a conceal at Torre de Juan Abad in central Spain.
During that interval, the lynx made “brief appearances from time to time,” Stefan instructed NCS. “On the second day, this special moment came completely unexpectedly, he suddenly appeared with a freshly caught rat in his mouth, lay down near me, and remained there attentively for a while.”
Shortly afterward, the lynx started to play with his prey. “He repeatedly tossed the rat into the air, skillfully caught it, and occupied himself with it for about 15 to 20 minutes. Finally, he lost interest, grabbed the rat, and disappeared behind a bush, where he ate it,” Stefan stated.
“About 20 minutes later, he reappeared: calmly, almost proudly, he walked past my hide and finally disappeared into the adjacent bushland.”
Iberian lynxes, distinctive for his or her tufted ears and noticed red-brown fur, was once one of the world’s most endangered mammals, after years of being hunted by people, who mistakenly thought they killed livestock, and as their scrubland and woodland habitat declined. They have been “practically impossible” to {photograph} then, Stefan recalled.
At one level in the early 2000s, there have been about 100 left in Spain, in response to Natalie Cooper, a researcher at the Natural History Museum. “Only 62 of these were mature individuals,” she added in a press release launched by the Natural History Museum on Wednesday.
But intensive conservation efforts have boosted the species’ numbers, to about 648 mature people in 2022, in response to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
While they continue to be elusive, their presence now feels “real again,” stated Stefan. “With patience, knowledge of their habitats, and a bit of luck, these fascinating animals can once again be observed –– and sometimes even photographed.”
“The lynx is therefore not only a rare subject but also a powerful symbol of how effective nature conservation can be.”
Four different images have been named runners-up in the competitors. They included pictures of a gaggle of flamingoes in water, framed by energy strains, with their pink colour mirrored by the sundown above; two bear cubs play-fighting at the same time as a automotive bears down on them; a sika deer carrying the severed head of a rival nonetheless impaled on its antlers; and three polar bear cubs resting, curled up in opposition to their mom.
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