The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards are an annual contest for pictures of wild animals caught in funny moments, created to make people laugh and to draw attention to conservation. In 2017 the judges shortlisted 40 finalists from more than 3,500 entries sent in from 86 countries, and on 14 December the Hungarian photographer Tibor Kercz was named overall winner for a series of little owls struggling to share a branch.
The ten finalists below range from an elephant seal on the Californian coast to penguins near a whalers' church in the South Atlantic. Each photo is credited to the photographer, with notes on the animal and the place, followed by the 2017 results and why a lighthearted contest can matter for wildlife.
What the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards are
The awards were founded in 2015 by two photographers based in Tanzania, Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam. Living in a country with some of the richest wildlife on Earth, and seeing the damage human activity can do to it, they wanted a competition that would make wildlife photography fun and reach people who might never read a conservation report.
Sullam has described conservation as being at the heart of the contest from the start, alongside the simple fact that "people seemed to enjoy images of animals doing entertaining things". Entry is free, and both professionals and amateurs take part. Judges look at the technical quality of the image as well as how funny it is.
Because these are wild animals photographed in their natural surroundings, the humour comes from timing rather than staging. A yawn, a scratch or an odd angle, frozen in a fraction of a second, can look exactly like a human gesture.
Big animals with big reactions
An elephant seal that cannot believe its ears
George Cathcart's frame, titled "WTF?!", shows a young elephant seal with its mouth wide open beside a companion, photographed on 13 December 2016 at San Simeon, California. The beaches near Piedras Blancas had no elephant seals before 1990 and now hold the largest mainland rookery of the species. Hunted almost to extinction in the 19th century, northern elephant seals have recovered to more than 200,000 animals. The image was highly commended in the final results. Photo: George Cathcart / CWPA / Barcroft Images.
A giraffe checking the passengers
Graeme Guy photographed this giraffe in the Masai Mara, Kenya, on 17 November 2008, at an angle that makes it seem to lean into the open door of a light aircraft. Giraffes are curious browsers, and small planes and safari vehicles are a familiar sight on the Mara's airstrips. Photo: Graeme Guy / CWPA / Barcroft Images.
A mountain gorilla pulling a face
Josef Friedhuber caught this mountain gorilla grimacing as it stepped out of the undergrowth after rain. The original caption placed it in "Virunga National Park, Rwanda", but those two names point to neighbouring places: Virunga National Park lies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while Rwanda's side of the same volcanic range is protected as Volcanoes National Park. Either way, the image comes from the Virunga mountains, one of the last strongholds of this subspecies. Photo: Josef Friedhuber / CWPA / Barcroft Images.
A wildebeest on a lookout mound
Jean Jacques Alcalay photographed a blue wildebeest posing on top of a mound in the Masai Mara, looking every bit the self-appointed king of the plain. Wildebeest often stand on raised ground to watch for predators. The picture, listed as "Animal Encounters", was highly commended. Photo: Jean Jacques Alcalay / CWPA / Barcroft Images.
Small animals, big personalities
A squirrel's well-earned scratch
Johnny Kaapa photographed a squirrel in Gothenburg, Sweden, mid-scratch, with a look of deep satisfaction. Urban parks give photographers easy access to squirrels used to people, and the pose here is pure everyday grooming. Photo: Johnny Kaapa / CWPA / Barcroft Images.
A rabbit with its mouth full
Olivier Colle found this wild rabbit gathering nesting material at Bredene on the Flemish coast of Belgium. Its mouthful of dry grass sticks out like an untidy moustache. Female rabbits line their nesting burrows with grass and with fur pulled from their own bodies before giving birth. Photo: Olivier Colle / CWPA / Barcroft Images.
The laughing dormouse
Andrea Zampatti photographed a young hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) on top of a yarrow flower at Monticelli Brusati in northern Italy. At around 10 cm long without its tail, this tiny rodent hibernates from about October until spring. Zampatti's picture, "The Laughing Dormouse", went on to win the On the Land category. Photo: Andrea Zampatti / CWPA / Barcroft Images.
Two mudskippers in full voice
Daniel Trim photographed two mudskippers with mouths wide open on the tidal mudflats of Krabi, Thailand, as if belting out a duet. These fish spend much of their lives out of water, breathing through their skin and the lining of their mouths as long as they stay moist, and they defend territories on the mud with showy displays. Photo: Daniel Trim / CWPA / Barcroft Images.
Church-goers and joyriders
Penguins on the way to church
Carl Henry photographed three king penguins walking toward a white wooden church on South Georgia, the British overseas territory in the South Atlantic. The church is most likely the Norwegian whalers' church at Grytviken, built in 1913 and still used for occasional services long after the whaling station closed in 1966. Henry's entry, later listed as "All Dressed Up and Ready for Church", was highly commended. Photo: Carl Henry / CWPA / Barcroft Images.
Monkeys taking a motorbike for a spin
Two black monkeys sit on a motorbike parked near the entrance to the Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve on Sulawesi, Indonesia. They are Celebes crested macaques, a critically endangered species found mainly in northern Sulawesi, where Tangkoko holds its largest remaining population. The Smithsonian's report on the results credits this highly commended image to Katy Laveck-Foster.
Who won in 2017
The results were announced on 14 December 2017. Tibor Kercz of Hungary took the overall prize with "Help!", a four-image sequence in which one of three little owls slowly loses its grip and ends up dangling from the branch. The category winners were:
- On the Land: Andrea Zampatti (Italy), "The Laughing Dormouse", shown above.
- Under the Sea: Troy Mayne, with a picture taken in the Philippines.
- In the Air: John Threlfall (UK), with a bird timed against an aircraft's vapour trail.
Several of the finalists in this gallery were highly commended, including George Cathcart's elephant seal, Carl Henry's penguins, Jean Jacques Alcalay's wildebeest and the Sulawesi macaques on the motorbike. Others named among the highly commended included Bence Mate's two bears, Daisy Gilardini's "Hitching a Ride" and Penny Palmer's cheering sea otter.
Why a comedy contest matters for wildlife
Serious conservation messages can be hard to hear. Photos of animals in trouble often make people look away, while a gorilla pulling a face or a seal that seems shocked makes them look closer and share the image. The founders' bet is that a laugh opens the door to curiosity about the animal and the place it lives.
Several animals in this set show why that curiosity matters. Northern elephant seals came back from a few dozen survivors because hunting stopped and laws protected them. Mountain gorillas survive in the Virunga mountains thanks to decades of protected-area work. The Celebes crested macaque is still critically endangered, hunted and losing forest. Behind each funny frame is a population that depends on human choices.
The contest also shows something useful to anyone with a camera: patience beats luck. The best entries come from photographers who spend hours watching an animal, keep a respectful distance and wait for the moment that tells a story, without baiting or disturbing their subject.
Sources: Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards (official site); Smithsonian Magazine: winners of the 2017 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards; New East Digital Archive: Hungarian photographer wins 2017's wildlife comedy photo award; Wikipedia: Northern elephant seal; Wikipedia: Virunga National Park; Wikipedia: Hazel dormouse; Wikipedia: Mudskipper; Wikipedia: Grytviken; Wikipedia: Celebes crested macaque. Finalist list first reported by IFLScience. Photos: the named photographers / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards / Barcroft Images.
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