Whale Rescue Encapsulated in Award-winning Photo

Just moments after Miesa Grobbelaar photographed an endangered humpback whale being freed from a chain, the whale "paused and looked at us, as if saying 'thanks,'" she said. The picture of the rescue, which was taken near Ha'apai, Tonga, won the Grand Prize in the Nature Conservancy's 2025 Oceania Photo Contest.

Grobbelaar and her team of rescuers had answered a distress call about an entangled humpback whale, and arrived to find a "heavy rusted chain cutting deep into her tail," said Grobbelaar. They worked "carefully and silently" to free her, until the chain finally snapped.

While humpback whales are no longer considered endangered, there are still some populations at risk, including those off Tonga. These still number in the low thousands, around 30 percent lower than before widespread whaling. (New Scientist)