The Wonder of the Wild: ROM presents the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.

Curiosity and the Cat / © Hannes Lochner (South Africa)

I’ve been visiting the Royal Ontario Museum regularly, mainly through the Friday Night Live parties, and was fortunate to have a chance to wander through a couple of the special exhibitions the ROM is presenting right now.

Snow Moment / © Jasper Doest 

Making its North American debut is the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition from the Natural History Museum in London, now in its 49th year. It is simply amazing: a collection of some of the best wildlife photography on the planet, with 100 winning and commended photos culled from 43,000 entries. There wasn’t a disappointing photo in the whole gallery, with the intimacy and utter wonder of the natural world captured so beautifully. So many of those photos required patience, skill, and sometimes just being lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time. In an age of camera phones and Instagram, it’s a treat to see exceptional, world class photography on this scale.

Water Bear / © Paul Souders (USA)

Plus, I’ve now added “toadspawn” and “dugongs” to my vocabulary.

A few of the photos are also utterly heartbreaking, notably in the “World in Our Hands” category, for photos which capture the sometimes destructive relationships humans have with nature. A photo essay on the ivory trade, shots of the oil sands in Alberta, and a painful photo of a shark caught on a hook painfully frame the impact on the natural world.

The Museum hosts the exhibition from November 23, 2013 to March 23, 2014 in the ROM’s Level 3, Centre Block. Tickets are an extra $5 in addition to regular admission to the ROM, and are available for purchase at the door or online here.