Wildlife Photographer of the Year: Stunning snap of polar bear's nap in icy cradle wins People's Choice Award

A snap of a young polar bear cradled in a bed of sea ice beneath a warm and cloudy sky has scored a top photography award, but its photographer also wants it to inspire hope in all who see it.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London, has unveiled the winner of it's ever-popular People's Choice Award category. British amateur photographer Nima Sarikhani emerged victorious from a pool of 25 contenders, with this year's competition attracting some 75,000 votes.

His photo, titled 'Ice Bed,' features the dreamy moment a young polar bear drifted off to sleep. Mr Sarikhani had spent three days searching for polar bears in the thick fog off Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, before his expedition vessel decided to change course - heading for some left over sea ice. Here, they encountered two polar bears. 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.

Natural History Museum director, Dr Douglas Gurr, said: "Nima’s breathtaking and poignant image allows us to see the beauty and fragility of our planet. His thought-provoking image 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."

Mr Sarikhani added he was honoured to have won this year's People’s Choice. "This photograph has stirred strong emotions in many of those who have seen it. Whilst climate change is the biggest challenge we face, I hope that this photograph also inspires hope; there is still time to fix the mess we have caused," he said.

Other finalists for the award included ‘The Happy Turtle’ by Tzahi Finkelstein, a fascinating interaction between a Balkan pond turtle and a northern banded groundling dragonfly, and ‘Starling Murmuration’ by Daniel Dencescu, which framed the moment a starling murmuration formed the shape of a bird.

Two lionesses groom one of the pride's five cubs in Kenya’s Maasai Mara in Mark Boyd’s ‘Shared Parenting’, while Audun Rikardsen’s stunning capture ‘Aurora Jellies’ shows two moon jellyfish illuminated by the aurora borealis in a fjord in Norway.

The five images will be displayed both online and alongside the the rest of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition winners at Natural History Museum in London, until 30 June.