Heartbreaking Story of Mountain Gorilla Who Died in Arms of Her Caretaker

Images of the passing of a much-loved mountain gorilla and a snake snatching a bat in midair are among the winners of the 58th Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

London's Natural History Museum (NHM), which develops and produces the competition, has announced the 19 category winners. They were selected from more than 38,000 entries across 93 countries.

The images, which "highlight the natural world in all its wonder and diversity," according to the NHM, were judged by an international panel of experts on their originality, narrative, technical excellence and ethical practice.

The exhibition, which opened Friday at the NHM, will tour across the United Kingdom before heading to venues throughout the world, including those in the United States and Canada.

Among the winning images is "Ndakasi's Passing," which was captured by South African photographer Brent Stirton in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The image, the winner in the Photojournalism category, shows the last moments of an orphaned mountain gorilla called Ndakasi, who was rescued by Virunga park rangers at the age of just 2 months old after her troop was massacred by a charcoal mafia, a criminal group involved in the illegal charcoal trade, in 2007.

In the photo, the gorilla is lying in the arms of Andre Bauma, the ranger who has looked after her for 13 years. After the massacre, Ndakasi was taken to a rescue center where she first met Bauma, who held her close all night long to keep her warm and comfort her.

Experts decided that Ndakasi was not suitable to be released back into the wild, and she was eventually transferred to the Senkwekwe Gorilla Orphanage Center in Virunga, the only facility of its kind, after it was established in 2009. There she lived peacefully for 11 years.

In September, the gorilla, who had been suffering from a prolonged illness, died in the arms of Bauma, her caretaker.

In a statement, Bauma said: "It was Ndakasi's sweet nature and intelligence that helped me to understand the connection between humans and [other] great apes and why we should do everything in our power to protect them.

"I am proud to have called Ndakasi my friend. I loved her like a child," he said.

Mountain gorillas are an endangered subspecies of the eastern gorilla, which lives in high-altitude forests. Just over half live in the Virunga Mountains, which extend across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

The gorillas face such threats as hunting and habitat destruction, but conservation efforts and the protection of rangers, who sometimes pay with their lives, have led to their numbers rising significantly in the past four decades. More than 1,000 of these animals are thought to be living today.

"This is such a powerful image—you can see the devastation in the eyes of Ndakasi's carer," Natalie Cooper, a principal researcher at the NHM and a competition judge, told Newsweek. "It's impossible to look at this image and not be moved by their connection."

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022

Another winning image shows a "bat-snatcher," which came out on top in the Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles category.

The amazing photograph, taken by Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar in a cave in Kantemo, Mexico, depicts a rat snake catching a bat in its jaws as it is flying.

Every evening, thousands of bats go in search of food in the so-called Cave of the Hanging Snakes. But this is also when hungry rat snakes emerge, and the serpents often try to catch the mammals as they fly past.

"I had heard about this place, and I always wanted to go," Belmar told Newsweek. "Being in a cave in a small space surrounded by thousands of bats flying next to you and snakes hanging from the ceiling and wall cracks is a great experience."

In total darkness, the photographer managed to locate a snake poking out of a crack, using a red light. Both bats and snakes are less sensitive to this kind of light.

"I was inside the cave with a local guide, and once we located a hanging snake with a red light we waited until the snake caught a bat. When the snake started swallowing it, I came closer and had the chance to take a few shots before it went back to the crack," Belmar said.

"The snake was struggling to swallow the bat because of its position. Usually, when snakes swallow a bat they start by the head of the prey, but in this case it was the opposite way, which made it very difficult for the snake," he said.

These rat snakes are not venomous and instead swallow their prey whole. Among the other animals they eat are small rodents, birds, frogs and lizards.

"This is an incredible image, captured in the few seconds between the snake catching the bat and taking it back to its crevice to eat," Cooper said. "We loved the symmetry of the bat wings and the dramatic behavior on display."