City-based photographer and conservationist Nayan Khanolkar has won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award in the Urban Wildlife category, in a contest organised by the Natural History Museum, London and BBC Wildlife, regarded as the most prestigious in the world. Mr. Khanolkar’s photograph, ‘The Alley Cat’, was taken in the Aarey Milk Colony, on the fringe of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP).

• 42-year-old Nayan Khanolkar won the award after beating 50,000 entries from across the world with his photograph of a leopard walking under a pale bulb between mud houses of tribals in Aarey Colony near Mumbai.
• The big cat can be seen staring directly at the lens in the picture for which Khanolkar spent four months before capturing the leopard in an image in January 2016.
• He strategically positioned his infrared cameras in the colony and four months later found out that one of them had taken the spectacular image.
• The image called “The Alley Cat” won him an award for the Urban Wildlife category and Khanolkar also works with the Bombay Natural History Society while he clicks pictures of big cats to create awareness for wildlife conservation.

DO YOU KNOW?

• Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the most prestigious wildlife photography competition in the world.
• It is an annual international wildlife photography competition owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife.
• It was known as BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year from 1990 to 2003, and briefly as Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Kodak Wildlife Photographer of the Year and Prudential Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
• There is an exhibition of the winning and commended images each year at the Natural History Museum, which later tours around the world.
• It is often cited as being one of the most prestigious photography competitions in the world.