8 hilarious photos from the Comedy Wildlife Awards that will make you laugh

Nature has its own sense of humor, you just need the eyes (and a little patience) to catch it. And if you missed it this year, these photos didn’t. The Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards are known for delivering genuine laughs, but the competition is about more than just funny faces. It celebrates wildlife photography while raising funds for conservation efforts around the world.

Each year, photographers submit images capturing animals in perfectly timed, unintentionally hilarious moments, from awkward landings to expressions that feel almost human.

In 2025, the awards received more than 10,000 entries from 109 countries, the highest number in the contest’s history. Judges selected 10 highly commended images and six category winners, spanning birds, fish, reptiles, and more, along with one overall winner.

The competition donates 10% of its revenue to the Whitley Fund for Nature, supporting conservation leaders working on the front lines.

Here are eight of the funniest wildlife photos of the year.

“Smile, You’re Being Photographed” — Valtteri Mulkahainen

Highly Commended

Image Credit: Valtteri Mulkahainen /Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards

“When I was photographing bears, this one-year-old bear cub saw it and started smiling at me,” Mulkahainen wrote.

“Bad Hair Day” — Christy Grinton

Highly Commended

Image credit: Christy Grinton/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards

“When I saw her it made me smile, thinking, ‘I know that moment where you have just washed your hair and the doorbell goes!’” Grinton wrote.

“I also loved the textures and colors of the bark of the arbutus tree surrounding her and her ‘bad hair.’”

“Fonzies Advertising” — Liliana Luca

Highly Commended

Image credit: Liliana Luca/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards

Luca photographed a lemur in Madagascar licking its fingers “with the grace of a stage actor and the timing of a comedian,” as if it had just eaten a bag of snacks.

“The photo immediately reminded me of that old snack commercial: ‘If you don’t lick your fingers, you’re only half enjoying it!’” Luca wrote.

“Landing Gear Down” — Erkko Badermann

Highly Commended

Image credit: Erkko Badermann/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards

“The red-throated loon is quite a poor flyer, and its landing is usually very wobbly,” Badermann wrote.

“It seeks balance with its legs stretched backwards and then belly-lands to glide. I like to say they use the water as their runway. This time, the bird came straight towards me and was so steady you might imagine it had taken flying lessons.”

“Now Which Direction Is My Nest?” — Alison Tuck

Highly Commended

Image credit: Alison Tuck/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards

Tuck captured the moment nesting grass blew directly into a gannet’s face on the Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire, England.

“Baptism of the Unwilling Convert” — Grayson Bell

Winner: Reptile, Amphibian, and Insect CategoryNikon Junior Category Winner

Image credit: Grayson Bell/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards

Bell, a 13-year-old photographer, captured the image while observing frogs establishing territory in a pond in Maine.

“I took my camera and lay on my belly, watching them and taking shots,” Bell wrote.

“It wasn’t until I got back to the house and looked at the pictures that I saw this one and realized how much I liked it. I showed it to my parents and they loved it too and it became one of my favorites. We all thought it looked like one frog was trying to baptize the other!”

“Hit the Dance Floor” — Paula Rustemeier

Winner: Nikon Young Photographer Category

“The time with them taught me a lot about their social behavior,” Rustemeier wrote.

“I saw them fight, hunt, sleep, groom, and of course play, which is always my favorite to watch! You really have to giggle a lot watching foxes play with their quirky personalities.”

“High Five” — Mark Meth Cohn

Overall Winner

Image credit: Mark Meth Cohn/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards

Cohn photographed a gorilla from a family group known as the Amahoro family in Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains.

“One young male was especially keen to show off his acrobatic flair: pirouetting, tumbling, and high kicking,” Cohn wrote.

“Watching his performance was pure joy, and I’m thrilled to have captured his playful spirit in this image.”


From perfectly timed pratfalls to expressions that look almost too human to be real, these Comedy Wildlife Awards photos remind us that the wild isn’t just fierce or majestic, it’s funny in ways no script could plan. Behind the laughter lies a deeper purpose: celebrating animals as individuals and nudging us to care about their shrinking habitats. Sometimes, the best way to protect the wild is to laugh with it.