The Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards has announced its shortlist of finalists for this year, featuring a giraffe 'wearing' a tree like a hat, a caiman sporting a 1950s rock and roll hairstyle, and a mid-air squirrel pouncing on an owl. More than 10,000 entries were submitted from 112 countries.
A Global Competition with a Conservation Message
Tom Sullam, Competition Co-Founder, said: "The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards started very gently, somewhere out on the vast plains of the Serengeti. What began as a small effort to raise awareness of wildlife conservation has grown into something far bigger than we ever imagined."
"The competition is now truly global, and a decade or so on, we want to make it even bigger, funnier, and more far-reaching than ever. We use humour to get people to feel empathy towards wildlife, and it's that empathy that creates behavioural change for the better."
Memorable Entries from Around the World
Other notable entries include a dancing bird in Scotland, a squirrel who's bitten off more than he can chew, and Shailza Singhal's shot of two elephants crossing near the camera while dwarfing a car in the background. The shortlist features 24 images in total.
Among the finalists, a young Great Horned Owl had barely settled onto its perch before a protective squirrel launched a surprise aerial tackle, knocking it into the grass below. The squirrel repeated the stunt two more times; both animals were shaken up but unharmed.
Stories Behind the Shots
Other images include a caiman emerging from water with floating vegetation on its head, resembling a 1950s hairstyle, and a long-tailed macaque that miscalculates a leap, striking a trunk and clutching its legs in distress. An infant olive baboon appears to hold an adult above its head, while a blenny hides in a camouflaged tube on the reef, opening its mouth to feed for only a split second.
Further entries show a sunbird bathing in a red banana blossom, an anhinga that caught a fish with its beak, and a goldcrest staring into the camera at eye level. A little owl perched and sang in darkness, and a chameleon crossed sandy ground as if every pebble were hot. A bull in South Africa made a slow U-turn after approaching a group, and two elephants in Amboseli appeared to nudge a distant Jeep. Other images feature blue-winged parakeets sharing a 'secret kiss', two owls at sunset in Dubai, play-fighting brown bears, an orangutan gesturing toward the camera, king penguins avoiding elephant seals, resting walruses, a dust plume in drought-hit Amboseli, hares being observed, and greylag goslings snuggling at Finnamore Lakes in County Offaly.
