Life captured as never before: Stunning images reveal an alien-like embryo, a turtle eating a jellyfish and wasps making clay pots

·        The images are part of the shortlist for the Society of Biology's Photographer of the Year award

·        There are nine photos taken by adults competing for a £1,000 prize run by the London-based society

·        There were more than 800 entries, with photographs allowed to focus on anything in biology

·        The winners will be announced on Tuesday 14 October at the King’s Fund in London

The shortlist for the Society of Biology’s Photographer of the Year reveal has been revealed - and it includes a stunning array of images from across the natural world.

In the competition there are two categories, the regular Photographer of the Year and the Young Photographer of the Year.

The theme of this year’s competition was Home, Habitat and Shelter and the 12 shortlisted entries include a chick embryo growing inside an egg and a sea turtle eating a jellyfish.

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The shortlist for the Society of Biology’s Photographer of the Year reveal has been revealed - and it includes a stunning array of images from across the natural world. The theme of this year’s competition was Home, Habitat and Shelter and the shortlisted entries include a a sea turtle eating a jellyfish (pictured)

More than 800 entries were received for the competition run by the Society of Biology, a professional body for bioscientists.

The competition tasked amateur photographers with thinking creatively about the unique ways animals, plants and organisms exploit their environment in order to survive.

Photographs were allowed to focus on anything from biology research just amazing images of an animal in its natural environment. 

The society hopes the theme will inspire insight into biodiversity, conservation issues and genetic diversity.

The winners will be announced on Tuesday 14 October at the King’s Fund, London; the winner of the adult prize will earn £1,000 ($1,630), while the best young photographer will scoop £500 ($815).

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More than 800 entries were received for the competition run by the Society of Biology, a professional body for bioscientists. Pictured are two bisons on the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park- the largest colourful hot spring in the US

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In this image, parasitoid wasps building clay pots (bottom left) and providing a paralysed caterpillar as food for offspring inside (top right) It was taken by Thomas Endlein

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Siblings watering newly planted seedlings. To mitigate the environment destruction caused by quarrying, the people living near the wawa dam (former water reservoir), planted a forest of mahogany trees

Judge Tim Harris, from the Nature Picture Library said, ‘We were impressed by the variety of entries this year, in both subject matter and geographical location.

‘There was some stiff competition in the adult category, and some great images from the younger age group too.

‘It was refreshing to see some unusual and imaginative interpretations of this year’s theme, and especially some which related the theme to man as well as animals.’ 

One of the stand-out images is of bison walking past a spring in Yellowstone National Park.

According to Tim Harris, speaking to MailOnline, the colours in the spring are natural and arise from chemicals and the algae within the water.

‘It’s obviously quite a hostile environment, which particularly struck us,’ he said.

‘The colours and shapes and composition are interesting in that picture.

‘And it’s good to see bison in the frame, to give you a sense of scale and also how animals can survive in extremely hostile environments.

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The competition tasked amateur photographers with thinking creatively about the unique ways animals, plants and organisms exploit their environment in order to survive. Pictured here is a spider at sunset in its natural habitat

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Judge Tim Harris, from the Nature Picture Library said, ‘We were impressed by the variety of entries this year, in both subject matter and geographical location. Pictured here is plant quickly taking advantage of the available shelter of a dilapidated house

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An adult female Italian crested newt stationedbelow the fresh water surface. This image was taken in Italy. ‘There was some stiff competition in the adult category, and some great images from the younger age group too,' said judge Tim Harris

In another image a turtle is seen eating a jellyfish, something Mr Harris explains is fairly common in the natural world.

‘Jellyfish are the main food of marine turtles, that’s what they routinely eat,’ he explains.

‘What was particularly arresting about that image was the colours in it.

‘I’ve seen plenty of photos like it before but not one with such strikingly colour jellyfish.

‘It’s a very bold and arresting image that stood out.'

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A female blackbird holding a dried mealworm inher mouth set in a suburban garden. This incredible image was taken by Billy Clapham at home in Lincolnshire

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On the right, a chick embryo in a hardened eggshell is sustained until full development. On the left, a tarsier is pictured in its natural habitat

In another image parasitoid wasps - those that spend a large party of their life attached to another organism – are shown making ‘clay pots’.

According to the photographer Thomas Endlein: ‘Parasitoid wasps expend a lot of effort in providing a good start for their offspring: not only do they build shelter in form of intricate clay pots but they also provide food in the form of paralysed caterpillars.

‘The caterpillar needs to be just the right size to fit through the narrow opening of the pot to reach the growing larva inside.

‘In the picture, several stages of this behaviour are shown: in the bottom left a wasp is busy adding a `mouthful' of clay to the rim of an almost finished pot. Another wasp is just about to feed in a caterpillar through the opening of the pot, and the wasp in the bottom right is sealing the opening.’ 

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In the competition there are two categories, the regular Photographer of the Year and the Young Photographer of the Year.  In this image A farmer protects his family and animals from mosquitoes

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A majestic leopard is spotted in its natural habitat. The image was taken by Kabini Karantaka in India. The winners will be announced on Tuesday 14 October at the King’s Fund, London; the winner of the adult prize will earn £1,000 ($1,630), while the best young photographer will scoop £500 ($815)