Taking home the grand prize of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024, Canadian marine conservation photojournalist Shane Gross also topped the Wetlands: The Bigger Picture category. Gross snorkelled Cedar Lake in British Columbia for several hours to make this photo, gliding through fields of lily pads.

Taking care not to disturb the silt and algae on the lake floor (thus maintaining visibility), he finally caught this glittering school of inky-black and gold western toad tadpoles on camera. Western toads are native to western North America, and their tadpoles have to swim up to the shallows from the safer depths of the lake to feed. An estimated 99% do not survive to adulthood.

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