The best of wildlife photographer Paul Nicklen

As one of the world’s best wildlife photographers, Paul Nicklen has seen more than his fair share of tooth, claw and flipper. The Saskatchewan-born, Baffin Island-raised former biologist (below, at his home in Nanoose Bay, B.C.) has braved everything from icy waters to lush rainforests, to capture jaw-dropping images of swimming polar bears, hungry leopard seals, airborne penguins and British Columbia’s elusive spirit bears. His awardwinning work — for which he recently scooped first prize in the World Press Photo nature category in 2013 and the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award in 2012 — allows us to see species we might not otherwise ever catch a glimpse of, surviving in what’s becoming an increasingly uncertain landscape.