See a jaguar shattering a crocodilian's skull and a 'David Bowie' spider in this sneak peak of the 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year

A dancing stoat, a jaguar's killing blow to a caiman and a colorful David Bowie spider are among the sneak peek of stunning images selected by this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year jury.

For 2024's Wildlife Photographer of the Year comPetition, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, London's Natural History Museum drew a record-breaking 59,228 entries from photographers of all ages across 117 countries.

The images were anonymously judged by a panel based on their creativity, originality and technical excellence, according to the competition organizers.

The winners in each category will be announced on Oct. 8, and 100 of the comPetition's best photographs will be exhibited at London's Natural History Museum from Oct. 11.

Twist and jump

Jose Manual Grandío camped out in below-zero temperatures at Athose, in France's Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, to capture this stoat leaping into the air above fresh snow.

The display, which Grandío saw as an "expression of exuberance," splits scientists as to its motivations — with some saying it is an attempt to confuse prey and others saying it is the result of a parasitic infection. Nonetheless, the behavior is referred to as dancing.

Going with the floe

Tamara Stubbs was sailing on a nine-week expedition to Antarctica's Weddell Sea when she spotted these crabeater seals napping beside her ship. These two — among some four million seals of their species in the Antarctic — had bobbed to the surface to take a deeper breath, their nostril tips poked above the water's surface.