Gaze of a walrus takes photo prize

This photo of a walrus gorging on bivalve shells off northeast Greenland, entitled Beast of the Sediment, won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year title for Goran Ehlme. Pictures / Reuters

A walrus eyes an underwater cameraman's lens as it forages for bivalve shells on the ocean floor, amid a storm of sediment. The image, entitled Beast of the Sediment, was chosen out of 18,000 entries as the Shell Wildlife Photograph of the Year.

It was taken off the northeast coast of Greenland by experienced wildlife photographer Goran Ehlme, who studied walrus behaviour for several years before he could safely share the watery depths with the animal.

The walrus, which has to surface for air every four to five minutes, is captured as it uses its snout, in the same way as a pig, to root out food.

"It's got everything. The feel of the picture is interesting; your attention goes straight to the eye. A very simple graphic image showing interesting behaviour," said the chairman of the judges, Mark Carwardine.

The winner of the Young Wildlife Photographer title was Rick Stanley, 17, for an image of a Hispaniolan treefrog that had been caught in the jaws of a green vine snake. While on expedition with a group of naturalists in the Dominican Republic, Stanley wandered off with a Dominican friend to look for wildlife in the forest.

"Suddenly we heard a loud squeaking [from] a distressed Hispaniolan treefrog, which had been caught by a green vine snake. I photographed the drama as the frog dangled in front of me."

His friend rescued the frog by gently touching the snake, which promptly dropped its meal and slithered away along the branches. The frog, seemingly unaffected by the snake's mild venom, hopped off.

An image of a seal peering though a round hole from beneath the ice was among the runners-up. The picture was taken on Svalbard, an Arctic island north of Norway, by Baard Ness, who initially intended to take pictures of polar bears.

"I spotted a hole and saw stirrings. I waited motionlessly next to it until a head popped up." He said the grey light was ideal because it enhanced the subtle contrast between the seal and its environment.

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