Wildlife photographer of the year competition – 2013 commended entries

Commended (The Gerald Durrell award for endangered species): Diana Rebman, US: ‘What made all the physical effort worth it was to see the mother with her two babies.’ This is only the fifth set of mountain gorilla twins ever to be reported in Rwanda’s Volcanoes national park Photograph: Diana Rebman/2013 WPY

Commended: Douglas Seifert, US: A dugong feeding in the bay of Marsa Alam, Egypt, while snorkellers flock to see it. Only seven dugongs are known to live along the 100km coastline Photograph: Douglas Seifert /2013 WPY

Commended (animals in their environment): Michael Nichols, US: C-Boy, a black-maned male lion, and his coalition partner, Hildur, once controlled a superior territory in Tanzania’s Serengeti national park, but they were deposed by a squad of four males known to researchers as the Killers. Nick came across C-boy and Hildur hunkered down in the rain: ‘I had never before seen these two senior coalition males together’ Photograph: Michael Nichols/National Geographic /2013 WPY

Commended (animal portraits): Łukasz Bożycki, Poland: On this March day, Łukasz shared the pond with them for an evening, sitting in the icy water in his chest-high waders, keeping as still as possible: ‘I wanted to find a fresh way of portraying the amphibians at water level’ Photograph: Łukasz Bożycki /2013 WPY

Specially commended (behaviour: mammals): Valter Bernardeschi, Italy: Each year between July and September, millions of sockeye salmon migrate from the Pacific back up rivers to the fresh waters of Lake Kuril, in Russia, to spawn in the waters where they were born Photograph: Valter Bernardeschi /2013 WPY

Commended (behaviour: cold-blooded Animals): Alejandro Prieto, Mexico: Corcovado national park, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, is accessible only by boat or aircraft. ‘With a fast movement, the crocodile held the turtle by its flipper and then, with a flick of its jaws, grabbed the still-living reptile by its head. I willed the crocodile to be still for a moment while I struggled to keep the camera steady’ Photograph: Alejandro Prieto/2013 WPY

Specially commended (underwater worlds): Solvin Zankl, Germany: Breeding ponds in Solling, western Germany. ‘To me the toadspawn looks like threaded black pearls neatly arranged in the scenery’ Photograph: Solvin Zankl/2013 WPY

Commended (urban wildlife): Marcos Sobral, Portugal: Varanasi in northern India where rhesus macaques have adapted to living alongside people, even inhabiting temples, where locals feed them as a form of worship. ‘I waited for more than an hour at this spot holding heavy camera gear, being bitten to bits by mosquitoes' Photograph: Marcos Sobral/2013 WPY

Commended (creative visions): Agorastos Papatsanis, Greece: The taller of these two parasol mushrooms is just 30cm. That is tall for a parasol, but their prominence against the tree trunks behind is a slight optical illusion Photograph: Agorastos Papatsanis /2013 WPY

Commended (15-17 years): Etienne Francey, Switzerland: Near Cousset, in Switzerland Photograph: Etienne Francey/2013 WPY