Ashleigh Scully/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Beneath the Antarctic ice, Weddell seals play in underwater caverns. Resplendent quetzals deliver food to their young in a Costa Rican cloud forest. And an elephant gazes at a photographer as her herd quenches its thirst by the edge of a waterhole.
Even as hurricanes and wildfires wreak havoc on much of the globe, the natural world is still full of beauty. The images in the 2017 Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest are a perfect reminder of that.
The contest is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. One hundred images were selected from more than 50,000 contest entries from 92 countries around the world. The selection that we've published below are finalists in various categories - and two of the photos were taken by kids between the ages of 11 and 14.
The competition's winners will be announced October 17, and the full exhibition will be on display in London from October 20, 2017 through the spring of 2018. For those who can't go see the prints in person, here are 13 of the most stunning wildlife photos of 2017.