Grinning baboons, hungry hippos and headless penguins: The funny side of nature revealed as 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards reveals final shortlist
- This year’s shortlist of 40 standalone photographs and 10 Portfolio entries includes a charming little raccoon
- These have been whittled down from thousands of entries from professional and amateur photographers
- The awards were co-founded in 2015 by professional photographers Paul Joynson-Hicks MBE and Tom Sullam
- The Overall Winner, Category and Highly Commended Winners will be announced on December 8
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards have today published the shortlisted images for their 2022 competition.
This year’s final shortlist of 40 standalone photographs and 10 Portfolio entries includes a charming little raccoon waving to the camera, a cool fox tipping us the wink, a squirrel superhero flying through the air and a galloping zebra, really giving it some welly.
These images have been whittled down from thousands of entries submitted from professional and amateur photographers from all around the world presenting a wonderful eclectic mix of hilarious wildlife.
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards were co-founded in 2015 by photographers Paul Joynson-Hicks MBE and Tom Sullam who wanted to create a competition that focused on the lighter, humorous side of wildlife photography but also had an important role in promoting wildlife conservation at its heart.
The Overall Winner, Category and Highly Commended Winners will be announced on December 8.
Martin Grace, ‘Keep calm and keep your head’, King Penguin (Volunteer Point, East Falkland) – Two King Penguins at Volunteer Point in the Falklands. The right hand bird may have an inscrutable expression but it must be wondering where its mate’s head has gone
Emmanuel Do Linh San, ‘I’m gonna strangle you!’, Meerkats (Kalahari Trails Game Reserve, South Africa) – I was following a group of meerkats on foot in the Kalahari Trails Game Reserve, in South Africa. Most individuals, including adults, were in a playful mood. It gave me a unique opportunity to capture very interesting and dynamic interactions between some members of the group. In the photo that I have selected, there is no aggression between individuals, but rather an interaction that reminds us of humans when one of your friends jokes about you and you pretend to strangle them and, in response, they open their mouth like a simpleton
Jean Jacques Alcalay, ‘Misleading African viewpoints 2’, Hippo and Heron (Kruger National Park, South Africa) – Hippo yawning next to a heron standing on the back of another hippo
Arturo Telle Thiemann, ‘Say cheeeese’, Grey triggerfish, Ballistes capriscus (Faial, Azores) – A couple of triggerfish looking into the camera, captured at the Azores.Even they may look funny, these fish can be quite aggressive. In this case they didn’t attempt to bite me, but the domeport of my camera housing ended up with some scratches… life is hard… at least it wasn’t me who was hurt
John Chaney, ‘Fight Back’, Bear (Alaska) – This salmon decide to punch the bear in the face rather than be lunch
Ahmed Alahmed, ‘Cute’, Monkey (Saudi Arabria) – Monkeys of the city of Abha, where they gather and steal food from people in various ways
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Tímea Ambrus, ‘I jump instead of flying’, Screech Owl (Hungary) – The screech-owl chose to jump instead of flying. He was a bit lazy
Corinne Kozok, ‘Tombstoning Guillemot’, Guillemot (Farne Islands) – the Guillemots were arriving with fish for their young and seemed to just dive into the middle of the horde of young ones
Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven, ‘Shark Moose’, Moose (Wyoming, USA) – Is this bull moose smiling … or getting ready to attack!?
Shuli Greenstein, ‘Rushing Little owl fledgeling’, Little owl fledgeling (south of Israel (Judean Lowlan)) – I was told that I can find a lot of little owls in the Judean Lowlands in Israel. So, I went on a journey early in the morning and really, I found a lot of little owls standing on the ground, on stones, near the nest and on tree branches. Suddenly, my eyes were caught by two fledgelings that were playing with each other on the ground. One of them crossed my field of vision. I started taking pictures in sequence and this is what came out
Mark Schocken, ‘Tight Fit!’, Eastern Screech Owl (Largo, Florida, USA) – I was going to see and photograph this eastern screech owl nest in a local park in Florida. One morning, a few days before the two owlets fledged, one owlet tried to squeeze into the nest hole with Mom, maybe to see the outside world for the first time. It was hilarious and I was glad I was there that morning to photograph it. The moment lasted only a few seconds as Mom didn’t seem very happy with the arrangement. Check out the expression on her face
Andrew Peacock, ‘Uncomfortable pillow’, Southern elephant seal (Snow Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica) – These elephant seal weaners were practising their jousting skills for many minutes before they collapsed in exhaustion. One looks to be resting far more comfortably than the other!
Vince Burton, ‘Buck-a-roo!’, Zebra (Amboseli, Kenya) – A zebra does a great impression of the 80’s children’s game Buck-a-roo. It also looks like its been fart-powered
Bojan Bencic, ‘Funny Walk’, Mute Swan (Maksimir Park, Zagreb, Croatia) – The swan was in the middle of a fight with another swan, chasing him around on a frozen lake
Lee Zhengxing, ‘Lisper Squirrel’, Squirrel (Zhuque National Forest Park, Xi’aan, China) – We encountered this little squirrel when climbed mountain in June. When noticed our approaching, instead of escaping right away, he just kept standing on the edge of cliff and overlooked into the distance, then turned around to staring at us as if we had interrupted his meditation. We left him with some biscuits for inconvenience and I took a photo of him telling thanks, just found that he was a lisper
Sophie Hart, ‘Mum life’, Long-tailed macaque (Singapore) – A baby long-tailed macaque clings on to its weary mother
Jennifer Hadley, ‘Not so cat-like reflexes’, Lion cub (Serengeti Tanzania) – This 3 month old cub and his sibling were in a tree. The other lionesses were in other trees and on the ground. He wanted to get down and walked all over the branches looking for the right spot and finally just went for it. It was probably his first time in a tree and his descent didn’t go so well. He was just fine though after landing on the ground. He got up and ran off with some other cubs
Lincoln Macgregor, ‘Your Picnic’s Mine!’, Cassowary bird (Etty Bay, Queensland, Australia) – When this Southern Cassowary sat confidently down on a picnic blanket, it scared all of the picnickers away and start eating up the fish and chips that were laid out before it. I captured this photo just as this cassowary swallowed some food, lending the bird a cheeky and mischievously satisfied look!
Dave Shaffer, ‘Curtain Call II’, Black bear cub (Wi. U.S.A.) – This little guy had a blast playing with a stick. I also had a very good time watching him
Valtteri Mulkahainen, ‘Romatic’, Brown bear (Martinselkonen, Finland) – No info
Saverio Gatto, ‘Maniacs’, Lappet-faced Vulture (Kruger National Park (South Africa)) – Lappet-faced Vultures in display
Paolo Mignosa, ‘Three headed (‘Kerberos’)’, Kamchatka brown bears (Kuril lake, Kamchatka, Russia) – The three cubs seem to form a ‘Kerberos’, the three –headed dog of Greek mythology
Arshdeep Singh, ‘I CU boy !’, Spotted Owl (Bikaner, India) – Few hundred miles away we went to explore wildlife of a small town named ‘Bikaner’. It was after almost a year I travelled because of covid. We hired a guide to explore places around. During last day of our trip we came across a pipe in a city where we spotted an owlet. I have earlier clicked owls in a pipe before so I was sure that I wasn’t mistake. We waited for a short while and it didn’t take a long time and one of the spotted owlet came out of the pipe. It was really funny when he came out and looked at me straight, before going inside he closed one of his eyes and felt like he wanted to say I CU boy ! and I immediately snapped a picture when he gave this pose
Thomas Vijayan, ‘Happy Feet’, Emperor Penguin (Antarctica) – This chick has grown old enough to take to the seas and fish for their own food
Ryan Sims, ‘Excuse Me… Pardon Me!’, a duckling and turtles (Juanita Bay Park, Lake Washington, Kirkland, WA. USA) – A duckling walking/waddling across a turtle covered log at the Juanita wetlands, the duckling fell off after a few turtle crossings, it was cute
Miroslav Srb, ‘Hello everyone’, Raccoon (Florida, USA) – I photographed raccoon on a Florida beach, where I fed him shrimps. Then he thanked me like that
Alex Pansier, ‘Jumping Jack’, Red Squirrel (Netherlands) – A red squirrel jumps during a rainstorm, so you can see the drops flying around
Federica Vinci, ‘Monkey Wellness Centre’, Monkey (Cambodia, Baphuon Temple) – Walking near a cambodian temple where groups of wild monkeys lived, I came across this scene: a wild monkey in total relax, while its friend was taking care of it
Jagdeep Rajput, ‘Pegasus, the flying horse’, Bluebull and Indian saras Crane (Keoladeo National Park, India) – Actually this is Indian Saras Crane attacking a Bluebull from behind, the bull happened to venture close to Saras’s nest, where in, it had laid a single egg. The Saras Crane, which is tallest flying bird in the world, opened it’s huge wings and attacked the bull from behind, driving the bull away from the nest
Paul Eijkemans, ‘Barf’, Picasso Triggerfish (Marsa Shagra, Egypt) – This picture of a Picasso Triggerfish was taken in Marsa Shagra, Egypt. The fish just vomited the coral residues that it picked up while nibbling on the coral
Michael Eastwell, ‘It’s all kicking off!’, Wallabies (Cape Hillsborough, Queensland, Australia) – Apart from its beauty, Cape Hillsborough is renowned for its resident kangaroos and wallabies. I visited the area for three consecutive sunrises, but it was on my final morning that I captured this beautiful spectacle, two wallabies playing / fighting on the beach as the sun burst through the surrounding clouds
Kevin Lohman, ‘The Wink’, American Red Fox (San Jose, California, USA) – An American Red Fox casually walked up to the edge of the woods and sat down, then turned around and gave a wink. Moments later, this sly fox disappeared into the trees
Jennifer Hadley, ‘Talk To The Fin!’, Gentoo Penguin (Falkland Islands) – This was shot on the Falkland Islands. These two gentoo penguins were hanging out on the beach when one shook himself off and gave his mate the snub
Andy Evans, ‘Stop and stare’, Probiscis monkey (Kinabatangan River, Sukau, Borneo) – After hearing Borneo’s borders would reopen again in April 2022 I couldn’t wait to visit and photograph some of the weird and wonderful wildlife on the island. After 2 years with no tourists it seemed like the wildlife was just as shocked to see me as I was to see them. This young proboscis monkey watched in amazement as I cruised by on the kinabatangan river
Ahmed Alahmed, ‘comedian’, Monkey (Saudi Arabria) – She calls her children, and the picture shows that she is laughing at those in front of her
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