Award Winning Photos

P-p-penguin picks up a prize: Majestic birds swimming through icy waters in Antarctica wins coveted photography award Paul Nicklen's jaw-dropping picture of Emperor penguins darting through the Ross Sea wins Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year award Other magnificent images include an alligator with glowing orange eyes, an eagle hunting a fox and a polar bear stranded on an ice floe Shortlisted images on show at the Natural History Museum in London until March 2013 The best wildlife photographers from around the world captured these incredible images of beasts and birds in their natural habitat - from Antarctica to Bedfordshire. The astonishing selection of images of animals across the globe were shortlisted for the Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year award. The winning shot was a beautiful snap of emperor penguins swimming through the icy waters of the Ross Sea in Antarctica. Emperors crowned: Paul Nicklen's incredible underwater photo of emperor penguins gliding beneath the icy sea won the Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year award Bright eyes: Larry Lynch took this amazing and sinister photo of an alligator in Myakka River State Park in Sarasota, Florida, USA Face-off: Sergey Gorshkov captured this snow geese running into trouble with an arctic fox on Wrangel Island in northeastern Russia Happy feet: Paul Nicklen also captured this incredible image of emperor penguins escaping leopard seals in the Ross Sea, Antarctica The image by photographer Paul Nicklen, from Canada, took the top spot in the international competition. Mr Nicklen spent hours in wait for the penguins to charge to the surface through a rare break in the ice so he could capture this stunning image. He said: 'It was a fantastic sight as hundreds launched themselves out of the water and onto the ice above me - a moment that I felt incredibly fortunate to witness and one I'll never forget.' The finalists had snapped a vast range of wild animals - from a rare ghost bear sitting down for lunch to a fox being chased by a golden eagle. The hundred shortlisted images will be on show at the Natural History Museum in London until March 2013. Isolation: Ole Jorgen Liodden captured this stranded polar bear around the islands of Svalbard in northern Norway Cold and alone: Anna Henly was on a boat in Svalbard - an archipelago midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole - when she spotted this polar bear at around four in the morning Predator: Stefan Huwiler hiked for five kilometres in thick snow in the Sinite Kamani National Park in Bulgaria to reach a hide known to be a golden eagle hotspot. There he found one of the awe-inspiring creatures hunting a fox Prey: Gregoire Bouguereau snapped this terrified gazelle calf running from cheetahs in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania Lords of the sky: Owen Hearn captured this red kite flying over Bedfordshire as an airplane zooms past in the background