Crested Guineafowl Wins Our Vote in London’s Natural History Museum Photo Contest

The UK’s Natural History Museum has another photography contest, this one called the People’s Choice Award, waiting for your vote to select a winner. The nominees, culled down to a final 25, are a mix of beautiful and poignant images, though not all are easy on the eyes.

Martin Gregus’ polar bear cub “playing in a mass of fireweed on the coast of Hudson Bay, Canada” is one of the easier pics. The bear looks for all the world like he has achieved nirvana, utterly at peace in a field of flowers, and living his best life.

On the funny end, a couple of crested guineafowl – their pompadours in full flower – are caught preening by photographer Richard Flack. “One of the guineafowl started to scratch another’s head and ear, and the recipient stood there motionless for a few moments with its mouth open and eyes wide, as if to say ‘that’s the spot, keep going’,” said Flack.

A trio of golden snub-nosed monkeys huddle together on a snowy day in the Qinling Mountains, Shaanxi province. Are they forlorn? Cozy? Who can say. Minqiang Lu had to huddle in the cold himself, as it took an hour and a half to capture the arresting image.

Jaime Culabras had to creep up slowly to get right in the face of a male mindo glass frog, a psychedelically colored fellow found only in northwest Ecuador in the foothills of the Andes.

These are images of nature, so some are bound to be of the tooth-and-claw variety. A pompilid wasp and an ornate Ctenus spider have a violent encounter (doesn't end well for the spider), for example. And there is a mama leopard carrying a living lunch to her baby. We’d like to forget that one.

See all 25 finalists at nhm.ac.uk/wpy/peoples-choice. You have until February 2 to vote for your favorite.