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Iberian Lynx Image Wins 2026 Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice

The public pick highlights the Iberian lynx’s rebound after near extinction.

Overview

  • Natural History Museum organizers said Wednesday that Josef Stefan’s “Flying Rodent” won the Nuveen People’s Choice with a record 85,917 votes.
  • The photo shows a young Iberian lynx in Ciudad Real, Spain, tossing a rodent for about 15–20 minutes before eating it, a scene Stefan captured from a hide at Torre de Juan Abad.
  • The People’s Choice is a public vote on a judges’ shortlist of 24 images drawn from more than 60,000 entries, separate from the main winners named in October.
  • The museum will display the winner and four highly commended images — flamingos under power lines, a mother polar bear with three cubs, bear cubs in car headlights, and a sika deer carrying a rival’s head — through 12 July 2026 in London.
  • The image also spotlights a conservation success, with the Iberian lynx rising from roughly 100 in the early 2000s to about 648 mature individuals in 2022, according to the IUCN.