Nature in focus: The most striking wildlife images of 2025
Powerful photographs show animals adapting and surviving amid a changing natural world
Last updated:
3 MIN READ
Dubai: From the tiniest hatchling to the planet’s largest predators, 2025 delivered some of the most powerful images ever captured of animals and the natural world. These photographs go beyond visual beauty, offering quiet but urgent reminders of how fragile life on Earth has become — and how resilient it remains.
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A polar bear is seen in front of an abandoned research station on Koluchin Island, off Chukotka, Russia, in the country's Far East, Sept. 14, 2025.
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Storks fly over fields in Buettelborn near Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 23, 2025.
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A baboon looks out atop an anthill in the Mbiza Plains in Hwange National Park, Matabeleland North Province, on October 7, 2025
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A hummingbird drinks from a flower in a garden on the outfield lawn before a spring training baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the Athletics, Feb. 24, 2025, in Surprise, Ariz.
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Vultures fly over the decomposed body of an animal, unseen, in Jammu, India, May 27, 2025.
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A peacock alights next to a pickup truck at Mack's Fish Camp, a family-owned airboat tour business and campground on the Eastern edge of the Everglades, May 28, 2025, near Miramar, Fla.
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A Monitor Lizard rests on a tree inside the Kaziranga National Park in Kaziranga, India, March 4, 2025
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A humpback whale breaches off the coast of Port Stephens north of Sydney, Australia, June 18, 2025.
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A couple of White-tailed eagles fight while hunting at the Bosfor Vostochny channel in Vladivostok, Russia, Feb. 10, 2025.
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A ladybug sits on a dandelion flower at a park in Tallinn, Estonia, May 25, 2025.
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Brown marmorated stink bugs sit on a dandelion flower at a park in Tallinn, Estonia, May 25, 2025.
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A female African elephant named Pupy stands in her enclosure at the Ecoparque in Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 25, 2025, as she is trained for her relocation to a sanctuary in Brazil.
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A Drosera capensis plant traps an insect at a carnivorous plant exhibit at the Botanical Garden in Bogota, Colombia, April 3, 2025.
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A young wild horse stands by its mother in a meadow near the city of Duelmen, Germany, where the herd lives in almost unmanaged feral conditions, April 19, 2025.
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An albino turtle hatchling sits among other Arrau turtles (podocnemis expansa) ahead of their release at the Abufari Biological Reserve, in Tapaua, Amazonas state, Brazil, Nov. 17, 2025.
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The veins of an adult periodical cicada's translucent wings are illuminated shortly after shedding its nymphal skin after a heavy rain, May 16, 2025, in Cincinnati.
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A raccoon eats peanuts on the boardwalk in Panama City, March 23, 2025.
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A newborn chick looks out of the feathers of its mother at a farm in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, July 14, 2025.
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Migrating cranes flock at sunrise in Hula Lake conservation area, north of the Sea of Galilee, northern Israel, Jan. 23, 2025.
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Mute swans float on the River Thames, Oct. 10, 2025, in Windsor, England.
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An adult periodical cicada, in the process of shedding its nymphal skin, is seen on May 20, 2025, in Cincinnati.
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An adult female Masai giraffe rears on its hind legs as it resists efforts by Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) rangers to guide it into a transportation crate using ropes during an exercise to translocate large herbivores from Kedong Ranch due to land subdivisions and corralling that have disrupted wildlife migratory routes in Naivasha, Nakuru County, on November 16, 2025..
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A bee collects pollen from a blue salvia, part of the blue, green, and white flower color scheme at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, ahead of the Wimbledon Championships in London, June 25, 2025.
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Macaws fly past a family on a scooter during a training session for the birds in a field in Depok, Indonesia, outside Jakarta, on Aug. 16, 2025.
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Devadasan K PChief Visual Editor
Devadasan K P is the Chief Visual Editor at Gulf News, bringing more than 26 years of experience in photojournalism to the role. He leads the Visual desk with precision, speed, and a strong editorial instinct.
Whether he’s selecting images of royalty, chasing the biggest celebrity moments in Dubai, or covering live events himself, Devadasan is always a few steps ahead of the action.
Over the years, he has covered a wide range of major assignments — including the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, feature reportage from Afghanistan, the IMF World Bank meetings, and wildlife series from Kenya.
His work has been widely recognised with industry accolades, including the Minolta Photojournalist of the Year award in 2005, the Best Picture Award at the Dubai Shopping Festival in 2008, and a Silver Award from the Society for News Design in 2011.
He handles the newsroom pressure with a calm attitude, a quick response time, and his signature brand of good-natured Malayali humour. There's no fuss — just someone who gets the job done very well, every single time.
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