Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice award announced | See pictures inside

UK amateur photographer Nima Sarikhani has won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award for the photo of a cute polar bear sleeping peacefully on a small iceberg. The photo was described as “breathtaking and poignant” by Dr Douglas Gurr, director of the Natural History Museum.

Sarikhani captured the photo at Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, where he spent three days in a desperate search for the animal amid thick fog.

“The expedition vessel I was on decided to change course. It turned and headed to where there was still some sea ice. Here we encountered a younger and an older male and watched the pair over the following eight hours”, wrote Sarikhani in his Instagram post.

“Just before midnight, the young male clambered onto a small iceberg and, using his strong paws, clawed away at it to carve out a bed for himself.”

Here are some other photographs clicked by award-winning photographer:

The photograph was titled Ice Bed and has been crowned the winner of the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of The Year people's choice award, after being shortlisted among the 25 best photographs from a hefty list of 50,000 entries from around the world.

A record number of 75,000 people cast their votes to name Sarikhani this year’s winner for the prestigious award.

Dr Gurr explained that Sarikhani’s award-winning photograph is a “stark reminder of the integral bond between an animal and its habitat and serves as a visual representation of the detrimental impacts of climate warming and habitat loss.”

Since the last decade, glaciers have been melting at an alarming rate due to changing weather patterns and rising sea levels, which are a result of global warming.

Apart from Sarikhani, four other finalists were “highly commended”. The fellow finalists for the award were - The Happy Turtle by Tzahi Finkelstein, Starling Murmuration by Daniel Dencescu, Shared Parenting by Mark Boyd and Aurora Jellies by Audun Rikardsen.

The five images will be displayed online and at London's Natural History Museum until June 30.

(With inputs from agencies)