18 Finalists For Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

Two Bridled Guillemots within the midst of a home dispute; The island of Hornøya in Norway is a busy mixture of chaos and noise, with squabbling seabirds vying for area and nesting websites.

Warren Price, UK – The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

The extremely anticipated, shortlisted comedian pictures and movies from the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025 have been unveiled and brought collectively, they provide an amusing assortment of humorous animal photographs captured within the wild.

From playful poses to completely timed expressions, this yr’s entries showcase wildlife of their most humorous, cute, and outrageous conditions.

This yr, the Comedy Wildlife Photography competitors obtained a file 10,000 entries from 108 nations, that includes work from “professional photographers, amateur shutterbugs, beginners, and young enthusiasts” — all utilizing quite a lot of cameras and types.

ForbesFunny Animal Photos: 10 Front Runners For Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025By Cecilia Rodriguez

Among the prizes for the winners is a safari in Kenya’s Maasai Mara with Alex Walker’s Serian — an journey that guarantees unforgettable encounters with wildlife — together with Nikon cameras, luggage and photographic gear.

Authentic Funny Animal Photos For Conservation

From penguins main sheep and dancing gorillas to a choir of lions, and even a smoking duck, the 2025 finalists are humorous and heartwarming. The organizers emphasize that every one entries are 100% genuine, untouched by AI or digital manipulation.

Each yr, the Comedy Wildlife Awards helps a sustainable conservation group and in 2025, it has partnered with the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN), a U.Okay.-based charity that empowers conservation pioneers throughout the Global South.

Over the previous three many years, WFN has directed £24 million to 220 conservation leaders in 80 nations, serving to to guard numerous species and ecosystems.

Forbes12 Funny Animal Photos Newly Released By Comedy Wildlife Photography AwardsBy Cecilia Rodriguez

A Message from the Founders

For the Comedy Wildlife Photography competitors, “a funny animal photo is incredibly effective because there are no barriers to understanding, or taboos that must be negotiated. It taps into the impulse for anthropomorphism which is well-documented as one of the most powerful triggers for human empathy.”

To actually perceive animals and the problems that have an effect on them, you’ll want to empathize with them as fellow inhabitants of the identical planet.

“Nikon’s ongoing support has supercharged the competition, reaching more people in more countries than ever before,” says Tom Sullam, co-founder of the Comedy Wildlife Competition. “These inspiring and funny photos and videos help raise awareness of animal and habitat conservation — and crucially, remind us of the fundamental importance of wildlife on our planet and in our lives.”

Awards Night and Exhibition

The Overall Winner, together with the Category and Highly Commended Winners, will likely be introduced on December 9 throughout an Awards Night in London.

A free public exhibition showcasing all 2025 Award Finalists will run from December 10-14 on the Gallery Oxo in London. It may also be exhibited in venues around the world.

After the vacationers had left Nosy Komba, Madagascar, Liliana Luca stopped by, letting the silence fall round her when this lemur appeared, observing her with huge, curious eyes, “as if questioning my presence…or perhaps my clothing choices. Then, with the grace of a stage actor and the timing of a comedian, he raised his hand, licked it thoughtfully, and then paused mid-gesture, as if he knew exactly what he was doing.”

A younger baboon seems up – and up and up – as an elephant approaches, uncertain whether or not to face his floor or flip round on his heels and run for his life. He determined to flee shortly after the image was taken.

‘Now which direction is my nest’, this gannet would possibly properly ask if he may converse with phrases. This was taken on an clearly windy day on Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire, throughout the gannets’ nesting season.

Volunteer Point, a headland on the east coast of East Falkland northeast of Stanley, is notable for having about 2,000 pairs of king penguins breed there.

King penguins have been as soon as almost extinct within the Falklands and Volunteer Point is house to a lot of the Falkland inhabitants. “I spent most of the day lying on my belly, often in the sand, watching the Kings,” says Ralph Robinson. “What a show! Not far away, a shepherd tended his flock of sheep, and it appeared for a moment that these king penguins were leading the way. Long Live the Kings.”

Crazy antics of the Red-Crowned Cranes of Kushiro Shitsugen National Park in East Hokkaido, Japan, characterize a typical morning.

Driving alongside the sting of a fjord in north-western Iceland, Antoine Rezer noticed some gyrfalcons. “There was a whole family,” he recollects. “My eye is drawn to a larger bird of prey, a white-tailed eagle. Amazing! It lands after making it clear to the falcons that he’s the boss. Then, a seagull arrives and starts harassing the eagle. The gull’s low-level flights follow one after another but are not enough. So the gull changes strategy and drops its bomb on the eagle! The eagle finally flies away, leaving the site to the gull. Motivation can be stronger than size.”

“These are two of three leopard siblings,” Vinod Lyanage explains. “A few minutes before I took this image, they were playing with each other on that boulder. Later one left and this playful interaction happened before they followed their other sibling.”

This picture was captured within the Tanjung Puting National Park in southern Borneo and options Sandra, the oldest identified orangutan residing within the space.

A rehabilitated orangutan who had beforehand lived in captivity, Sandra has since been efficiently launched again into the wild. Known for her quirky and distinctive character, she rapidly grew snug with the photographer’s presence and earlier than lengthy had really ‘found her stage’.”

This Southern Yellow hornbill was spooked by the incoming tawny eagle and determined a fast exit was most likely clever. Its ungainly departure was captured in a sequence of photographs however this one completely captures the panic of the hornbill at that second.

The hornbill safely escaped, though its uncertain that the tawny eagle was critically occupied with tackling that hornbill beak anyway.

A Sri Lankan Elephant performs peek-a-boo with its ears.

While out on a typical overcast morning on the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park in Singapore, Jessica Emmet’s consideration snapped in direction of two displays lizards locked in battle within the distance. They have been near the principle path, but they appeared fully unfazed by the individuals strolling, jogging, biking by or taking cellphone movies.

In particular person, the struggle felt like an intense battle of energy although the actions have been fairly gradual – not in contrast to an evenly matched arm wrestle.

“My photos didn’t reflect this epic battle of wills at all,” says Emmet. “Instead, the photos looked like sweet affectionate snuggles. I don’t often I see monitor lizards fighting as they are mostly solitary.

“However, it wasn’t stunning to see monitor lizards preventing on this space because it’s proper below bushes the place herons are identified to nest. That means eggs and meals typically fall to the bottom, to not mentionthat it’s additionally proper subsequent to the river. So, that is prime monitor lizard territory price preventing for. Just after this picture, a 3rd bigger monitor got here up and whips them each with its highly effective tail.”

Steller Eagles are the heaviest eagles on this planet, weighing as much as 9 kilos and with wingspans as much as 2 1/2 meters. They may be present in northern Russia, northern Japan and Korea and it’s estimated there are solely about 4,500 adults presently alive.

During winter, a wonderful place to {photograph} these giants of the air is on Hokkaido, northern Japan, the place temperatures are often -18 levels Centigrade. In February and March every year, a big ice-flow happens off the coast close to the city of Rausu and it was on a ship journey to the ice-flow, which started earlier than dawn, that the picture was taken.

The Steller eagles are seen in massive numbers on the ice-flow and compete for fish with the smaller white-tailed eagles.

As the solar rose and gave spectacular golden gentle to the birds and mirrored off the ice, this pair squabbled over a fish. Not solely did one eagle seem to kick the opposite eagle whereas having its foot on a fish, they each elevated one wing in unison as if in a synchronized dance.

A hilariously fortunate second was caught by Maline Ellwangerm as these these three lions yawn on the similar time, trying like a cappella singers in a refrain.

The picture was taken in a nature reserve within the Netherlands. Foxes don’t get hunted there and subsequently are seen throughout the day as properly.

“I have found that the best way to photograph foxes, especially young ones, is just being present,” explains Paula Rustemeier. “They usually get either curious or see you as something natural, not dangerous and come close eventually. I had several foxes nipping at my shoes already like this, as well as foxes catching mice just a couple meters away from me.

“This was my tactic with these foxes, too. I followed and documented them for several months while they grew up. Their den lay in a sandy valley. When dawn set, they met up at this spot, got really active and often played together, just like in the image.”

On a chilly, early morning at an area pond in Bavaria, the temperature was so low that it made the breath fairly seen in opposition to the solar. This mallard duck perched on a fence, calling out into the air and looking out like he had simply stepped exterior for a fast smoke within the chilly morning gentle.

This Yellow-cheeked male Gibbon was simply hanging out within the bushes in Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam, trying like he’s ready for a beer to be served.

“Meet the Frog Prince of my little garden — he’s been lazing around guarding my grape vine, waiting for a kiss, but I think he’s just here for the grapes,” Beate Ammer says. “This charming Green Tree frog seems to have mistaken the vine for his royal court, lounging among the plump fruit as if he’s the monarch of the orchard.”

The Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, identified for its huge landscapes and its large elephant herds, appears to get up originally of the wet season as nature revives after the primary rains in lots of months.

“One evening on our way to the camp we bumped into a troop of baboons playing in a huge tree,” Kalin Botev explains. “One of the baboons was sitting on a big brunch and the others were running up and down the tree in circles. Every time they passed by the sitting baboon, it was trying to catch them. The play continued for more than 15 minutes and the baboons seemed to really enjoy it.”

Funny Animal Photos Competition Dates

The winners of the 2025 Nikon Comedy Awards Photography Awards will likely be introduced on December 9.

The competitors classes embody: Alex Walker’s Serian Mammals Category, Spectrum Photo Birds Category, Think-Tank Reptiles and Amphibians Category, Fish and Other Aquatic Species, Insects Category, Nikon Young Photographer (as much as 25 years outdated), Nikon Junior Category (as much as 16 years outdated), Amazing Internet PortfolioCategory and the Nikon Video Category.

The People’s Choice Award will likely be open from December 10, 2025, till March 1, 2026, for the general public to vote for his or her favourite humorous animal photographs, with the winner of this class being introduced on March 12, 2026.

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