Looks cute, but nightmarish for its prey! Wildlife photographer snags major award with image of polar bear seen from a seal’s perspective
Norwegian photographer Audun Rikardsen rigged his camera directly beneath a seal’s breathing hole in the Arctic drift ice, capturing the moment a hungry polar bear stuck its head through, looking for its next meal
Wildlife photographer Audun Rikardsen has won a major award for an image that looks cute but is terrifying for its prey. The Norwegian photographer captured a polar bear from the perspective of a seal, creating a nightmarish scene. Rikardsen attached a Canon EOS 6D DSLR camera directly beneath a seal's breathing hole on Arctic drift ice, with a motion sensor to trigger the shutter.
After a few hours, a hungry polar bear stuck its head in the frame, searching for its next meal – the seal's last moment of fear. The image, titled "A Seal's Nightmare," was recently named Image of the Year at the Our Nature Photo & Video Award 2026. Rikardsen waited nine hours to retrieve his camera to check the footage, as the bear decided to take a nap on the ice for nine hours.
The Our Nature Award showcases winners from various wildlife photography categories, including the "Stories or Portfolio" category featuring Belgian photojournalist Alain Schroeder, documenting the daily life at a clinic run by the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme in Indonesia. In the "Our Nature - Air" category, Czech photographer Jan Pokluda won with a picture of a great spotted woodpecker feeding its chick in an unusually low nesting cavity in an oak tree trunk.
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