Bleak photo of a herd of elephants eating garbage on a giant dump tells a story of our times

The elephants pictured here come to the garbage dumping grounds in Ampara in search of food. Unfortunately, this causes them to fall ill and many have died.Tilaxan Tharmapalan

• Several of the winning submissions to the UK's Royal Society of Biology photography competition highlighted the damaging impact humans have on wildlife and the environment.
• The winning photograph of the year is a stark reminder of how man is encroaching into the realm of the elephants.
• The image, taken by Tilaxan Tharmapalan in Sri Lanka, shows a herd of elephants rummaging for food on a garbage dump near a wildlife sanctuary.
• The primary threat to elephants in Sri Lanka the loss of forests for human settlement and agriculture.

A photo taken by a Sri Lankan photographer of a elephants scavenging in a huge garbage dump has scooped the top prize at the UK's Royal Society of Biology's photography competition.

The somber image was captured by the RSB Photographer of the year, Tilaxan Tharmapalan.

Elephants had been known to fall ill and die from rummaging and eating plastics and other waste. The authorities have recently banned dumping rubbish near these protected sites.

Several other photographs recognized by the competition judges explored humanity's destructive impact on wildlife and the environment worldwide.

This year's competition theme was "Our Changing World," with the judges looking for images highlighting the dynamic nature of wildlife, sometimes catalyzed by human impact.