Translated material
The funniest photos of wild animals of 2024
The winners of the annual Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, which recognize the funniest photographs of wild animals from around the world, have been announced in London. 44 photographs made it to the finals of the competition, 19 of them received prizes. Winners include a squirrel stuck in a tree, a dancing mantis and kissing owls. The funny side of wildlife is in the photo gallery "Cold".
The pictures show a smoking squirrel and penguins going to showdown. This is what they look like
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Judges of the Comedy Wildlife Photography competition selected the best photos based on three criteria: whether the animal in the photo turned out to be funny, whether the author came up with a funny caption for his work, and how professionally the photo was taken from a technical point of view. In the end, they named 19 laureates: one of them won the main prize - a trip to Kenya, eight - won in special categories and received gifts from sponsors, and the rest were given the title of winner, but left without awards.
The winner of the competition was Italian Milko Marchetti with his photo “Stuck Squirrel”. He managed to capture a curious squirrel that climbed into the hollow of a felled tree in a park in the city of Bagnacavallo in the Italian province of Ravenna. In the photo, it looks like the squirrel is stuck in a tree, as only its paws and fluffy tail are visible from the hollow. In fact, as Marchetti said, he managed to catch the moment when the squirrel unhooks its hind legs from the bark and quickly jumps into the hollow. She made her way inside easily and without incident.
Spanish photographer Jose Miguel Gallego Molina won the Insects category. He filmed a praying mantis raising its legs up. His posture may make him appear to be dancing and smiling. The photo is named after the famous Spanish dance - "Flamenco Mantis".
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Molina himself recalls that he took the photo by accident: he was driving a car when he saw a praying mantis on the road with raised paws, which seemed to be asking him to stop. He left the car at the side of the road and lay down on the asphalt with a camera in order to catch the “dance” of the insect.
German photographer Eberhard Ehmke took home the prize in the Reptiles and Amphibians category. He sent a photo of “Frog in a Balloon” to the competition. In the photo, the frog lies calmly in the swamp, although its head is in a bubble that appears in the water. Swamps for frogs are a very [comfortable environment](https://www.pringlenc.org/amphibians-wetlands#:~:text=and%20find%20food.-,Ephemeral%20ponds,-(ponds%20that%20are), since they do not contain predatory fish that could eat their tadpoles.
Ehmke's frog isn't the only amphibian to win awards at Comedy Wildlife Photography this year. Another frog's photograph was recognized as the best in the Nikon Young Photographer category, where contestants under 25 compete. This year's winner was Hong Kong photographer Kingston Tam with his photograph "Awkward Smiling Frog."
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Tam [gets into it](https://www.comedywildlifephoto.com/gallery/comedy-wildlife-2024-competition-winners.php#:~:text=got%20me%20into%20%E2%80%98-,herping ,-%E2%80%99%20(looking%20for%20reptiles) herping - observing reptiles and amphibians in their natural habitats. In 2022, he moved from Hong Kong to Australia, where he met other photographers who specialize in photographing frogs, toads and other reptiles. “My goal with photographs is to draw attention to our scaly and wet friends. , showing that not only furry animals can be cute and beautiful,” says the author of the photo.
An even younger photographer, Sarthak Ranganadhan from India, took home the prize in the category for contestants under 16 years of age. He sent a photo of “Owls Hugging” to the competition. The photo shows a family of owls: two parents and their offspring. The adult owls "kiss" while their little owl sits next to them, eyes closed and smiling. “Our parents always find a way to embarrass us,” Ranganadhan commented on the photo.
The owl became the main character of another photo. American photographer Randy Herman managed to witness communication between a long-eared owl and a red-bellied woodpecker, who apparently did not share living space. The female woodpecker flew several times to the hollow where the owl had settled. Herman suggested that the woodpecker was visiting for a reason - the owl’s house had actually been its nest. The owl was clearly frightened and did not know what to do with the uninvited guest. The photo was called “You are not my mother.”
Several more photographs with birds were evaluated at the competition. The white-tailed eagle, for example, received the People's Choice Award. Finnish photographer Tapani Linnanmaki captured the moment when the bird came out onto the ice to clean its feathers. The photo was called “Shake, Rattle and Roll.” The photographer recalls that he took a whole series of funny photographs with this eagle in the leading role.
The winner in the Fish and Other Aquatic Species category was another shot of a bald eagle, this time, flying away from a fish that jumped out of the water just as the bird was flying by. For a second, the fish and the bird were at the same level above the water, and it seemed that they were flying after each other. The author of the photograph, Przemyslaw Jakubczyk, called it “An unexpected role reversal” and joked that it was the fish that “relieved stress” and hunted the eagle, and not the other way around, as is usually the case in the wild.
Among the "Highly Commended" winners was a photo of king penguins acting out a jealousy scene. As the author of the photo, Andy Rouse, says, the male wanted to meet the female, but did not calculate that she was already taken. Her partner blocked his opponent’s path and seemed to “push” him with his wing. The photo was taken on South Georgia Island and is titled "Okay mate, fuck off - that's my bird."
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A rejected male should not be upset, as king penguins do not always stay with one partner for life. They are serially monogamous, that is, they choose one partner only for a while (usually for one season), and later create a pair with another individual. King and emperor penguins are the most likely to "divorce" their partners: more than 80% of king penguins change partners between breeding seasons.
The jury also noted a photograph by Briton Ralph Robinson called “Gang of Four.” His lens caught four crested penguins, who seemed to be going to showdown. "These birds look like they're ready to kick other penguins' ass!" — the author of the photo joked . It was in the likeness of crested penguins that Cody Maverick, the main character of the cartoon “Catch the Wave!” was drawn. .
As Robinson says, at the time of filming, the penguins were all returning to their nests from feeding. Crested penguins usually get up early in the morning, gather in small groups and go to sea to hunt. They can stay in the water for up to 12 hours at a time and swim up to 160 kilometers from their colonies.
Japanese photographer Takashi Kubo managed to find a “mafia boss” on the island of Hokkaido - that’s what he called his photo of a flying squirrel holding a cone in its mouth. “He seemed to be sucking on a cigar and looked like a mafia boss,” Kubo said .
The jury also highlighted the work of the German photographer Arvind Mohandas, “The Contemplating Chimpanzee.” The photo was taken in the jungles of Uganda when Mohandas was watching a troop of monkeys. The author of the photo joked that the chimpanzee was pondering the question of how close apes really are to humans.
The funny wild animal photography competition has been running for nine years now. The creators of the award want to make people think about environmental problems with the help of ridiculous photos of animals. Such photographs can really arouse empathy in viewers, since they activate the impulse in the brain to anthropomorphism - this is the attribution of traits and properties that are inherent to humans to animals or inanimate objects. Research from the University of Cambridge has shown that anthropomorphism can make people feel empathy even towards robots.
“Laughter is a uniquely effective tool for engaging audiences of all ages and cultures with photographs of animals they may never see for themselves and that the world may lose forever,” says the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards website.
The founders of the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards are trying to actually help preserve the diversity of wildlife. 10% of the revenue they receive from donations, merchandise sales and sponsorships goes annually to support environmental charities. Some animals in competition photographs are truly in danger: for example, the emperor penguin may disappear completely due to global warming.
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Photo:Marti Phillips/Nikon Comedy Wildlife