Funny Photos From Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards Provide Much Needed Laughter

With the many crises facing humans and the planet in 2020, it is difficult to find much to smile about. But we can always count on the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards to bring us cheer while highlighting the wonders and delights of the natural world.

The annual photography competition has just released photos from their 2020 Finalists. Among the hilarious images are: a very smiley fish, gossiping lions, a photo-bombing giraffe and a turtle who has simply “had enough” of being photographed. Check out the wonderful pictures below:

“As this Azure damselfly slowly woke up, he became aware of my presence. I was lined up to take a profile picture of his wings and body, but quite sensibly the damsel reacted to the human with the camera by putting the Marsh grass stem between me and it. I took the shot anyway. It was only later that I realised how characterful it was. And how much the damselfly looks like one of the muppets.”

“South sea elephant in Patagonia (Isla Escondida). They adopt very curious gestures!”

“Shooting the most common is the most challenging thing. Langurs are very common but waiting for a right movement is very challenging and needs lots of patience.”

“I was hoping a Kingfisher would land on the ‘No Fishing’ sign but I was over the moon when it landed for several seconds with a fish. It then flew off with its catch. It appeared to be mocking the person who erected the sign!”

“Two male lions sharing between one another the secrets of the Kalahari Savannah.”

“A young common seal chills out on a rock in Sinclair Bay in Caithness, its thick layer of blubber moulding into the contours of the rock. Looking as if it is enjoying a really good joke, the seal is, in fact, yawning.”

“The photo was taken in Eastern Finland. In the picture, a brown bear is aiming for a piece of put on to a snag.”

“This picture was taken on the Falkland Islands at sunrise. A group of penguins went to the shore to go fishing when one stopped and vomited.”

“I am sure we all know, or have met, little old men like this – leaning on a gnarled walking stick while scratching inappropriate places without inhibition. A bit of a surprise then to see this young Chacma Baboon socially uninhibited before his time!”

“At the Kaziranga National Park, this elephant mother and calf seemed completely oblivious to our jeep and went about their stroll through the pond. The mom seemed to be giving her calf lessons on eating the hyacinth – select a lush green bunch, rip them out from the root, pound the stems against the their trunk to remove the mud and then swallow whole – the calf looked like she was thoroughly enjoying the lesson and duly followed her mothers every move. It was truly an unforgettable experience – on this trip we saw many of Kaziranga’s treasures – One horned Rhino, Royal Bengal Tiger, plethora of gorgeous birds indigenous to this region, yet somehow the simple sight of watching this giant creature preparing her child for the world seemed to stand out and left us all with a remarkable feeling of having experienced nature at it’s purest.”

“Grizzly tire service. Questionable ethics.”

“This photo from January 2020 is the beginning of a scene which lasted approximately one minute and in which each of the birds used a foot to clean the partner’s beak. While the whole scene was very informative, this first photo with the male already holding his foot high in the air was just asking to be taken out of the context…”

“My friends and I walked in the center of the small town of Hampi in India. There was a bicycle parking nearby. Suddenly a flock of langurs jumped on these bicycles and began to frolic. We were afraid to frighten them away, I started taking pictures from afar, but then we came very close to them and the langurs continued to play with bicycles.”

“While on a trip to Borneo, I had many opportunities to watch monkeys interacting with each other. These Pig-Tailed Macaques showed me a bit more than I bargained for!”

“This Elephant calf in Namibia was slow to notice when his mother started to move away. When he tried to hurry and catch up, he tripped over his front feet and faceplanted. His mother heard the commotion and immediately came back to help him up and the calf continued on his way with no damage except to his dignity.”

“We were surprised to see that Sea Lions actively practice Yoga. Guess they need to get their Zen as well.”

“I was on Bali on vacations. We went to Uluwatu Temple and I saw this young macaque playing around and do silly things. Is like it was posing to the camera. Amazing little animals.”

“A pelican appears to be putting a magic spell on the one in front of him. Maybe, hoping to make him disappear.”

“This beautiful reddish egret had just finished preening and did a shake-out to detangle his gorgeous locks! I was lying on my belly while he preened and hoped he would turn towards me to do ‘the shake-out’. I got lucky! While sorting through my files during this pandemic lock down, I loved this because this is what I will look like if I cannot get to the hairdresser…”

The competition, founded by Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam, both professional photographers and passionate conservationists, is a global, online and free-to-enter photography competition, that takes a light-hearted approach to encouraging wildlife conservation.

With the coronavirus pandemic keeping many of us at home, the message this year is to encourage people to be conservationists at home. Tips include:

• Shop locally and responsibly. Support local farmers and businesses to shrink your carbon footprint. Try to avoid non-recyclable products and one-use plastics and packaging.
• Plant boxes in your windowsills. Grow some flowers for bees. We suggest researching which ones bees like best.
• Become a wildlife influencer. This can be done in many ways. Supporting your local environmental initiatives and conservation efforts, and encouraging others to do so, is a great place to start.

For more ideas visit the Comedy Wildlife Photography website.

The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards also publishes a book series, which is available on Amazon with partial proceeds going to wildlife conservation.