Jari Cornelis, Wild West Papua (ANIMAL & NATURE 2025)

The island of New Guinea is a unique and fascinating place, a dream destination for naturalists from around the world. Most commonly people visit the island for the incredible and unique birds of paradise with outrageous colours and mating displays which, for the most part, can only be observed on this island. I too am intrigued by these beautiful birds but, my real fascination lies with the islands reptiles which receive far less attention and I believe there are several species that are just as beautiful and outrageous as those birds of paradise. In this submission I present a sample of the island’s reptile diversity from the far western province known as West Papua. A bright blue Blue-spotted Tree Monitor (Varanus macraei), a vivid red Barred Keelback (Tropidonophis doriae) a shining green Northern Green Tree Python (Morelia azurea) and the Indonesian Forest Dragon (Lophosaurus dilophus) adorned with large spines and splashes of colour.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.