Unseen Moments: 76 Stunning Wildlife Photos That Captivated the NPOTY People’s Choice Over the Years

Crab-eating macaques, also called long-tailed macaques (macaca fascicularis), have a long history alongside humans in Lopburi, a city north of Bangkok in central Thailand. They are the symbol of the province and are a popular tourist attraction. These highly social animals live in huge groups in temples, abandoned houses, and city parks. For me, the most fascinating aspect is the complex relationships with the people of this area. On the one hand, they are sacred animals that are believed to bring prosperity and luck into the province. On the other hand, their exploding population causes conflicts.
I spent one entire day in the town and observed that locals supported the monkeys by delivering food like vegetables and fruits all day long in huge amounts. This kind of food belongs to their natural diet.

Stalls were selling treats that visitors fed to the animals. The sold treats contained not only healthy and appropriate food, but also sweets like little plastic bags with colored sugar water. They were very much welcomed by the monkeys, which grabbed as many as they could. One individual brought its prey next to one of the monkey statues, which were built in honor of the furry inhabitants in the center of the city, to enjoy the sweets. Of course, consumed in huge amounts, these sweets cause health problems like illnesses and can also lead to aggressive behavior towards humans.

To find a way for peaceful coexistence, many challenges need to be overcome.
Authorities and conservation organizations are working hard on solutions to protect the charismatic little monkeys, which have been listed as endangered on the IUCN list since this year (2023). One is to educate the public on how to treat and protect the animals. It may need some time but efforts are done already.

I took the image of the scene to combine the many aspects of the human-macaque interaction like mutual interferences, conflicts, admiration, thoughtlessness, tradition, and vulnerability to make the viewers thoughtful like it happened to me.

To evade their underwater predators, flying fish jump to the surface of the sea and swiftly glide, using their fins as sails and their tails as a rudder. However, once they’re out of the water, they are not out of danger, as seabirds stalk them from above. These fish inhabit the shallower strata of tropical oceans around the world and serve as the intermediary link between zooplankton, their primary food source, and larger predators. This fish, almost transparent, was photographed in the Solomon Sea, in the Pacific Ocean to the east of Papua New Guinea.

When I’m taking pictures of really fast animals like flying fish, I don’t just want to freeze them in one frame. I want to show their movement. The trail they leave behind is part of the composition. For this reason, I took this picture at 1/125 s; It captures the fish, its trail, and a smooth background. Getting this shot means taking lots of pictures in continuous shooting mode, and paying close attention for a moment that you can’t predict. This picture was taken from a boat, employing a telephoto lens.

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