Fishing brown bear picture among winners of nature photography contest

Prize rewards photographers who go to extreme lengths to capture nature images

Pictures of a brown bear searching in a river and a marine iguana grazing off the coast of the Galapagos Islands were among the winners of the California Academy of Sciences’ Natural World photography competition.

Celebrating some of the best pictures from nature photographers all over the world, at least 6,500 images were submitted for consideration in various categories including Aquatic Wildlife, Terrestrial Wildlife and the Art of Nature.

Mikhail Korostolev, who came out on top in the Terrestrial Wildlife category, went to great lengths to capture his prize picture of a fishing bear.

After venturing to the South Kamchatka Sanctuary, an isolated, 795,000 acre nature reserve in Russia’s far east, he set up a remote-controlled camera on the bed of the Ozemaya River.

When a curious bear came along to the popular fishing spot, it began to investigate the unusual object under the water. Mr Korostolev then took his picture.

Here The Independent has compiled the winning images and the runners up from the competition.