Ekaterina Bee's Image

Ekaterina Bee (Italy) watches as two Alpine ibex spar for supremacy.

It was near the end of a spring day trip with her family that Ekaterina spotted the fight. The two ibex clashed horns and continued to trade blows while standing on their hind legs, like boxers in a ring.

In the early 1800s, following centuries of hunting, fewer than 100 Alpine ibex survived in the mountains along the Italy-France border. Thanks to successful conservation measures, today there's now more than 50,000.

The ibex are so used to humans that they come down onto the roads to lick the salt that remains after winter de-icing, adding important minerals to their diet.

Sugandhi Gadadhar, wildlife filmmaker and judge said, 'I like how the photograph shows both the behaviour of the two male ibexes, nearly going up in the air in a duel, and their habitat, the harsh and beautiful conditions they live in'.