Wildlife Photographer of the Year marks 50th birthday with stunning images of past winners

The prize is one of the most celebrated photographic awards in the UK

Jamie Thom - Leopard with rising moon, 1999 (Jamie Thom)

The Natural History Museum is celebrating 50 years of one of Britain’s most prestigious photography prizes.

To mark the anniversary of The Wildlife Photographer of the Year award, past winners have been put on show alongside this year's 100 winning images at the museum.

Previous winning photographs include an image of an adorable Orang-utan mother and baby in an animal orphanage in Sumatra, a leopard captured in front of a rising moon and a polar bear and Arctic fox leaping over the Hudson Bay.

The photographs are currently on show at the museum as part of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, which has been extended until 31 August to celebrate the 50th year of the prize.

Thomas D Mangelsen - Polar bear and arctic fox, 1994 (Jamie Thom)

Michael ‘Nick’ Nichols won the prize this year, which also supported by the BBC, for his intimate images of resting female lions in Tanzania at night.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 winner 'The Last Great Picture' (Michael ‘Nick’ Nichols)

The shot, entitled The Last Great Picture, was taken using infra-red, which Nichols said “transforms the light and turns the moment into something primal, biblical almost”.

Bence Máté - Pelican perspective, Eric Hosking Portfolio Award 2011 (Bence Máté)

Jim Brandenburg Dune oryx, Wildlife Photographer of the Year -1988 (Jim Brandenburg)

Manoj Shah - Orang-utan and baby, 2000 (Jamie Thom)

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year attracted 361 entries when it launched in 1964, and now receives 42,000 submissions from 96 countries.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London runs until Monday 31 August.