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How many crocodiles can you count in this picture? One hundred, maybe?
You're forgiven for doing a double-take because you don't immediately register that this male gharial croc's back is entirely covered by its young.
The image was captured by expert photographer Dhritiman Mukherjee. His shot, snapped in India's National Chambal Sanctuary, is highly commended in this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPY) competition.
Every one of these youngsters needs to survive into adulthood and to breed.
The freshwater gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is critically endangered. Where once it could have numbered more than 20,000 animals across South Asia, the species is now down to perhaps less than 1,000 mature individuals - and three-quarters of these are concentrated in the Uttar Pradesh sanctuary.
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"This male had mated with seven or eight females, and you can see that it was very much involved," explained Dhritiman. "Normally the gharial is quite a shy crocodile compared with the saltwater and marsh crocs. But this one was very protective and if I got too close, it would charge me. It could be very aggressive," he told BBC News.
The male gharial sports a fabulous bulge on the end of its snout that is reminiscent of a round earthenware pot, or "ghara" in the Hindi language.
"It's a structure that enables vocal sounds to be amplified," said Patrick Campbell, the senior curator of reptiles at London's Natural History Museum, which runs the prestigious WPY competition.
"Other crocs carry their young about in their mouths. Very carefully, of course! But for the gharial, the unusual morphology of the snout means this is not possible. So the young have to cling to the head and back for that close connection and protection."
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Another view from the sequence of images taken by Dhritiman Mukherjee
Another view from the sequence of images taken by Dhritiman Mukherjee
The gharial's decline is a familiar story of habitat loss.
This has been driven principally by dams and barrages that have disrupted river flows. Sand extraction and boulder removal have restricted nesting opportunities. And then there's the perennial problem of animals getting caught up in fishing gear.
"Rear and release" programmes appear to have at least stopped this species going over the edge. But a big effort is now needed if this extraordinary animal is to have a long-term future.
Dhritiman hopes he can help spur that endeavour by linking the emotion displayed in his images to the science that's required for successful conservation.
Otherwise, the only place you'll be able to see the gharial will be in museums - as the taxidermy specimens, like those held by the NHM.
Dhritiman's picture at the top of this page is highly commended in the Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles category of WPY.
The winners of the 2020 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition - its grand prizes and category winners - will be announced on 13 October.
However, because of the global impact of Covid-19, the awards ceremony will be held online. This will be hosted by the well known TV presenters Chris Packham with Megan McCubbin.
The Natural History Museum's popular WPY exhibition, showcasing the best images, is to go ahead as normal from 16 October. Tickets are on sale this week.
Twenty-twenty is year 56 for WPY. The competition was initiated by BBC Wildlife Magazine, then called Animals, in 1965. It is now wholly organised by the NHM.
Also highly commended (Behaviour: Birds) this year is this picture of yellow-billed choughs battling the winds high up on the Alpstein Massif in the Swiss Alps. The perfectly framed silhouettes of the birds were captured by Alessandra Meniconzi. Anyone who has been skiing in the Alps will probably have seen these animals because they will often scavenge discarded human food around holiday resorts. Alessandra said their shrieking was "so loud and insistent in the dramatic landscape, it was like being in a thriller movie".
If you can dare to look... this rather gruesome picture is of a large wandering spider making a meal out of an egg from a giant glass frog. The image was taken by Spanish photographer Jaime Culebras in a stream in Manduriacu Reserve in northwestern Ecuador. To consume the egg, the spider injects digestive juices and then sucks back the liquefied products. This female spider, which has a leg span of 8cm, spent more than an hour in front of Jamie's camera lens devouring the frog's eggs. This particular picture was highly commended in the Behaviour: Invertebrates category.
Video: Making ‘hope’ en Vogue
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
您可以在这张照片中算出多少只鳄鱼？一百，也许？
您因两次拍摄而被原谅，因为您没有立即证明这只雄性gharial鳄鱼的后背完全被它的幼虫覆盖。
图片由专业摄影师Dhritiman Mukherjee拍摄。在印度国家香巴拉保护区（National Chambal Sanctuary）拍摄的他的照片在今年的年度最佳野生动物摄影师（WPY）比赛中得到了高度评价。
这些年轻人中的每一个都需要生存到成年并繁殖。
淡水加里尔（Gavialis gangeticus）受到严重威胁。该物种曾经可以在整个南亚地区饲养超过20,000只动物，但现在只剩下不到1,000个成熟个体了-其中四分之三集中在北方邦的庇护所。
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Dhritiman解释说：“这只雄性与七个或八个雌性交配，您可以看到它参与其中。” 他告诉英国广播公司新闻：“通常，与咸水和沼泽鳄鱼相比，加里尔鳄鱼是一种害羞的鳄鱼。但是这种鳄鱼非常有保护作用，如果我离得太近，它将对我造成伤害。它可能非常具有攻击性。”
雄性盖尔里尔人的鼻子上有一个神话般的隆起，让人联想到圆形的陶罐，或印地语中的“ ghara”。
伦敦著名自然历史博物馆的爬行动物高级策展人帕特里克·坎贝尔说：“它的结构可以放大人声。”
“其他鳄鱼在嘴里young着它们的幼崽。当然，要非常小心！但是对于加里尔而言，鼻子的不寻常形态意味着这是不可能的。因此，幼崽必须紧紧抓住头部和背部，以保持紧密的联系。保护。”
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盖尔河的衰落是一个常见的栖息地丧失的故事。
这主要是由水坝和拦河坝打断了河水流量。采砂和清除巨石的筑巢机会受到限制。还有一个长期的问题，就是动物陷入渔具中。
“后释放”程序似乎至少已阻止了该物种越过边缘。但是，要使这种非凡的动物拥有长远的未来，现在需要付出巨大的努力。
Dhritiman希望他可以通过将图像中显示的情感与成功保存所需的科学联系起来，从而促进这一努力。
否则，您唯一能看到的gharial地方将是博物馆-作为动物标本，如NHM持有的标本。
Dhritiman在此页面顶部的图片在WPY 的“ 行为：两栖动物和爬行动物”类别中得到高度赞扬。
2020年年度野生动物摄影师大赛的获奖者-大奖和类别获奖者-将于10月13日宣布。
但是，由于Covid-19的全球影响，颁奖典礼将在线举行。这将由著名电视节目主持人克里斯·帕克汉姆（Chris Packham）和梅根·麦库宾（Megan McCubbin）主持。
自然历史博物馆最受欢迎的WPY展览将展示最佳图像，该展览将从10月16日开始正常进行。门票本周发售。
WPY的第20年是56岁。这项竞赛由BBC野生动物杂志（当时称为动物）于1965年发起。现在由NHM完全组织。
这张今年还受到高度赞扬（行为：鸟类）的照片是这张黄色开嘴的红嘴山鸦在瑞士阿尔卑斯山的Alpstein地块上与高风交战的照片。鸟类的完美轮廓剪影被亚历山德拉·梅尼康齐（Alessandra Meniconzi）捕捉。在阿尔卑斯山滑雪的任何人都可能会看到这些动物，因为它们经常会在度假胜地附近捡拾废弃的人类食物。亚历山德拉说，他们的尖叫声“在戏剧性的场景中是如此响亮而坚定，就像在一部惊悚片中一样”。
如果你敢看的话……这幅令人毛骨悚然的照片是一只游荡的大蜘蛛用一只巨大的玻璃青蛙用鸡蛋做饭。这张照片是西班牙摄影师Jaime Culebras在厄瓜多尔西北部Manduriacu Reserve的一条小溪中拍摄的。为了食用鸡蛋，蜘蛛会注入消化液，然后吸回液化产品。这只女性蜘蛛的腿长为8厘米，在杰米（Jamie）的镜头前花了一个多小时，吞噬了青蛙的卵。这张特殊图片在“ 行为：无脊椎动物”类别中得到了高度赞扬。
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Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk，然后在Twitter上关注我：@BBCAmos
资源编号：ZY1984096；资源类别：(英语基础资料)；收集时间：2020-09-06；资源参考链接
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