As the divide between wild and human spaces gets blurrier every day, the presence of wild animals in human settlements is becoming extremely common. Animals on roads, highways and outside 'protected areas' are a very common sight today.

Our Fortnight Focus challenge – Out Of The Wild – has curated a ton of entries from across the country.

The winner takes home a Shutterbug Pro camera bag from Wildcraft and exclusive goodies from NiF. 

A big shout-out to everyone who contributed, and a definitive invitation to those who haven't yet to join in for the next.

Scroll down to see our top picks.


Tanay Panpalia

A Fragile Co-existence

A tigress walks along the side of a road in a village near the city of Umred in Maharashtra. The photograph also shows two milk vendors walking fearlessly behind her, who are on their way back after delivering produce to a village nearby. This is a regular affair for both the animal and the villagers.

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Tapan Sheth

Gir Crossing

The extensive network of the Indian Railways cuts through several forested landscapes, resulting in collisions of trains with a variety of wildlife species. Here, an Asiatic Lion is seen crossing a railway track in the forests of Gir in Gujarat.

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Nirlipta Saha

The Death Trap

Even the largest land mammal is not spared by speeding trains. Between 1987 and 2015, railway accidents have resulted in more than 200 elephant deaths in the country. This tusker was pictured crossing the Siliguri-Alipurduar track in West Bengal.

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Rupak Ghosh Dastidar

Man vs Wild

The large grasslands outside the Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal are visited by a herd of elephants every year in the months of July and August. The presence of villages on the outskirts of the reserve makes for a complex situation; the perfect recipe for human-animal conflict. Here, you can see a group of people looking on as a lone tusker stands on the other side of the bank.

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Nihal Jabin

The Garden of Gaur

A herd of Gaurs grazes in a tea garden in the Western Ghats. Coffee and tea estates have replaced a large area of evergreen forests in this region, but animals continue to use them as corridors and live in the periphery of these cultivated lands.

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Aniket Thopate

On Temple Grounds

Nilgais are extremely shy creatures and they tend to stay away from humans. Interestingly, this temple in Rajasthan has become a regular visiting ground for a family of Nilgais. As visible from the image, they are unfazed by the presence of humans.

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Aparupa Dey

The Intruder

The Indian Palm Civet is now a denizen among human settlements with very few populations in the wild. Here, you can see an adult civet  indulging in a bowl of 'prasad' on the verandah of a home in Tehatta, West Bengal.

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Nitin Shenoy

Snake Among Gods

An Indian Cobra is pictured alongside framed photographs of Hindu gods and goddesses inside the prayer room of a house in Bangalore. The photograph was taken during a wildlife rescue operation.

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Praveen Purohit

The Yellow-throated Martens of Kartikeya

A Yellow-throated Marten feeds on the sweet offerings left behind by devotees at the Kartik Swami temple on Kronch Parvat in Uttarakhand.

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Vivek S

Colliding Worlds

The growing tea plantations of Valparai mean that Lion-tailed Macaques are living, literally and alarmingly, on the edge. Here, you can see a macaque trying to open a chemical bottle that it has acquired.

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Shashank Verma

Far From Home

An Indian Grey Mongoose is pictured on the streets of Dharwad in the state of Karnataka.

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Yuvraj Navle

Sleeping Beauty

A Barn Owl is pictured resting during the day, inside the window frame of an old house in Maharashtra.

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Anuroop Krishnan

Poolside Maribou

Lake Bogoria in Kenya is known for its flamingo congregations, but there are a number of trees around the lake where Maribou Storks breed. Some of these trees are inside hotels and resorts, where the storks have made themselves at home completely, including pools and lawns.

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Manoj Kumar Roy

The Cost Of Clean  Energy

A Black-necked Stork flies past a wind farm in the Rann of Kutch. The increasing demand for clean energy has seen wind farms take a firm foothold in the Kutch landscape, altering habitats and increasing collision risks for avian species.

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Lakshit Arora

It's A Bird... It's A Plane...

A peacock is pictured against a clear blue sky decorated with a low-flying aeroplane at the Symbiosis School of Photography campus in Pune.

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Sarbajit Ghosh

A Sky Full Of Cranes

Demoiselle Cranes migrate in large numbers to villages in Rajasthan every winter, where they are welcomed by villagers who await their arrival with sacks of grain.

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Prasad Khale

Pink Island, Mumbai City

Lesser Flamingos flock together in the middle of Thane Creek, situated in the highly populated metropolitan region of Mumbai. The Government of Maharashtra has declared the area along the western bank of the Thane Creek as the 'Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary'.

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Ravi Patel

Flamingo City

Thousands of Lesser and Greater Flamingos congregate in the city premises of Ahmedabad during their breeding season.

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Saurabh Chakraborty

We Got Your Back!

The children of Rushikulya are often seen interacting with Olive Ridley Sea Turtles when they come ashore to nest, sometimes even warding off scavengers like crows, kites and dogs.

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Amandeep Ruhela

The Langurs of Chittorgarh

Langurs adapt to a range of habitats and they easily acclimatize in human settlements. Here, they have made a haven of the majestic Chittorgarh Fort in Rajasthan.