"Please don't run," says a little wooden sign inside the entrance to the Booth Museum.

Whether this is there as a warning to children or to provide reassurance to adults confronted by a pair of stuffed brown bears is not altogether clear.

But be brave, beyond the Victorian collection of dead animals is an oasis of live ones.

You'll be quite safe because they've all been captured in photographs as part of the British Gas Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition.

It is the largest and most prestigious wildlife photography competition in the world, stopping off in Brighton as part of a 30-venue tour of the UK.

If you have ever tried to impress friends with your snaps of wildlife you saw on holiday and ended up handing out pictures of distant trees sporting brown blobs, these photographs will shame you.

The winning picture, by Kenyan photographer Angie Scott, is one of those classic fleeting moments people dream of catching on camera.

Five elephants wading through a glassy lake in Zambia watch while a grey heron parades past them.

Minutes later the moment passed.

Angie explains: "The youngest calf started splashing and rolling, thrashing the water with its tiny trunk, barely able to contain its boundless energy. It was utterly priceless."

Closer to home, a UK entry entitled Young Rats Drinking From A Water Butt by Janice Ann Godwin is commended in a class encouraging people to take photographs of wildlife in their own backyards.

It is a section that is always undersubscribed and proves you don't have to jet round the world to take amazing pictures of animal behaviour.

Nor do you need an expensive zoom lens. Some of the best shots in the sections for young people are taken within breath-smelling distance of their subjects.

Entries are now being accepted for the 2003 competition.

Visit and be inspired. The Booth Museum is open Monday to Saturday, 10am until 5pm (closed Thursdays), Sunday (2pm until 5pm).

Admission free. 01273 292777.

Preview by Olivia Edward, features@theargus.co.uk