Pictured: Winning entries for Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026

Image source, Federico Veronesi By Maddie Molloy & Alex Brian Climate & Science team Published 33 minutes ago An emotional scene of an elephant carrying a deceased calf has earned Italian photographer Federico Veronesi the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026.

While tracking elephants in Namibia's Huab River Valley, Veronesi spotted an unusual trail of drag marks across the sand of a dry riverbed.

Following the tracks, he came across a female elephant carrying a dead calf, its leg wedged between her tusk and trunk.

Initially, Veronesi assumed the elephant was the calf's mother. But after sharing his photographs with an elephant research project working in the area, he learned that this wasn't certain.

Researchers recognised the elephant as a female who had lost a calf several years earlier and said she had previously picked up dead calves belonging to other females.