Nikon has come to a decision on its Small World in Motion competition, awarding the top prize to the capturing of a tiny death scene, with a microorganism called a ciliate attacking and consuming an even smaller ciliate.
The footage itself was captured by Wim van Egmond from the Micropolitan Museum in the Netherlands. He scooped the microorganisms out of his pond and set up the camera just in time to see the kill.
"Wildlife is so close to us, yet most of us never look close enough to see it," said van Egmond. "A pool in your garden is actually a miniature underwater jungle teeming with life. If you want to see the world, your backyard is a great place to start."
While van Egmond has previously won the Small World in Motion prize for still photos, he says that video is a much better way of capturing tiny organisms and getting a sense of the fact that they're living creatures.
Second place in the competition for this year went to footage captured of a termite's gut, showing the different organisms that live there and help it digest wood. This was captured by Danielle Parsons. Third place, captured by Gonzalo Avila, went to a video of a parasitoid wasp larva breaking free from its host.
Check out the video below to see the footage for yourself and some of the other entries in the competition.
Via: The Verge
