In pictures: 12 incredible images from The Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025

A "haunting" image of a hyena in a mining ghost town that took a decade to capture has won this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest.

The shot by South African wildlife photographer Wim van den Heever scooped top spot out of a record-breaking 60,636 images submitted to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, run by the Natural History Museum , London .

The image portrays a rarely-seen brown hyena, the world's rarest hyena species, next to a broken-down building in the long-abandoned diamond mining town of Kolmanskop, Namibia , where they are known to pass through on their way to hunt Cape seals or scavenge on the Namib Desert coast.

Mr van den Heever used camera trap technology for the image "ghost town visitor", which also won the urban wildlife category of the contest, setting traps every time he visited for a decade.

He said it took him 10 years to finally get the single image of a brown hyena in a perfect frame, and was "ecstatic" when he finally had success.

Judges hailed the picture's reflection on wildlife reclaiming a former human-dominated environment.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum , London , will open on October 17 and run until July 2026 , and will also go on a UK and international tour