A kangaroo plays the air guitar, an otter dances gracefully like a ballerina or birds chatting. These are just a few examples of the funniest animal photos from the past year. The ‘Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards’ were also presented this year, and again there are some gems among them.
Photographers Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Solam founded the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards in 2015. They created a competition focusing on the fun and playful side of nature photography in order to motivate conservation of the animal world through humour. At the same time, the competition enjoys global recognition, with thousands of photographers each year taking photos for one of the awards.
The big winner of 2023 is Australian photographer Jason Moore with the image “Air Guitar Roo”. Moore passed a group of kangaroos feeding in an open field filled with yellow flowers. “I had my camera so I stopped to take some pictures. “Suddenly I saw this kangaroo striking a funny pose, and it looked to me like it was practicing playing its air guitar,” Moore says of his photo, which has won no fewer than two awards.
There were six category winners, including young photographer Jacek Stankiewicz who won the Junior Prize for his image of a pair of arguing greenfinches, called “Dispute.” This photo also pleased the audience and won the Audience Award.
The winner in the underwater category is a photo of an otter that appears to dance gracefully like a ballerina, taken by Singaporean photographer Otter Kuek. This silly photo was called “Otter Ballerina.”
In the flying animals category, Italian photographer Vittorio Ricci won for his photo “An Unexpected Dive.” “An unusual, almost miserable end to a perfect moment, pre-arranged for a successful hunt,” says the photographer.
In the Amazing Online Portfolio category, entries must contain a set of 4 photos that together form a funny story. Photographer Timea Ambros won this category with a collection of a brave squirrel, titled: “Finally Learned to Fly or – Or Maybe Not.”
In the video category, the award went to photographer Lily Bernau who was able to spot several penguins, one of which seemed to find the water very cold. The title of the video was: “Adelie penguin avoids swimming with his friends in cold water.”
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