A surprise meeting between a woodpecker and an aghast owlet. An elephant seal cheesing. A mantis raising the roof on a Spanish roadside. All this and more awaits you in this year’s Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards for 2024, showcasing nature at its most amusing and bewildering.
The shortlist includes 40 images of wildlife that ekes out existence on land, sea, and air. (You’ll note that the first photo in the set includes a fish in the air, apparently chasing after a low-flying bald eagle.) The public can also vote on their favorite photos of the finalists here, which were themselves selected from a field about nearly 9,000 images taken in 98 different countries.
Nikon launched the competition in 2015 as an opportunity to anthropomorphize the animal kingdom, seeing relatable moments from nature that provoke everything from a chuckle to a chortle. Previous winners of the top prize have included a lion colliding with a tree (2022) and a monkey landing on a branch in a most uncomfortable way (2021). You can see the finalists from last year here.
A fish appears to chase a bald eagle. Photo: Przemyslaw Jakubczyk / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A deer accidentally plonks snow on its head. Photo: Corentin Revel / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Bear cubs hopping on the back of their mom. Photo: Alexander Fine / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Blenni fish peeks out from a hole in the coral. Photo: Alexander Fine / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A red ant looking through a leaf. Photo: Alexander Pansier / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Two bears appear to embrace. Photo: Andrea Rosado / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A male king penguin appears to tell another male off. Photo: Andy Rouse / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A dancing sifaka in Madagascar takes on a funny a pose. Photo: Andy Rouse / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A hippo covered in water plants. Photo: Artur Stankiewicz / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A monkey seems to be thinking in the Ugandan jungle. Photo: Arvind Mohandas / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
An otter reminiscent of a meditating guru. Photo: Charles Janson / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
An otter looks like it’s praying. Photo: Christine Haines / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A nutria grooms itself. Photo: Christopher Arnold / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A whiskered tern knocks its head while attempting to land. Photo: Damyan Petkov / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A frog with its head in a bubble. Photo: Eberhard Ehmke / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A little burrowing owl appears to be singing. Photo: Fred Amico / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
An elephant seal appears to grin. Photo: Gabriel Rojo / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A razorbill comes in to land. Photo: Inés Godínez / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A newborn seal looks like it’s cracking up. Photo: Ingo Hamann / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A red-bellied woodpecker checks out a screech owl nest. Photo: Randy Herman / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A small raccoon looks like it’s whispering a secret to its mother. Photo: Jan Piecha / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Two penguins on a rock in the Farne Islands. Photo: Jörn Clausen / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A mantis raising the roof. Photo: Jose Miguel Gallego Molina / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A ground squirrel letting its family know it found food. Photo: Kath Aggiss / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A frog…very close to the camera. Photo: Kingston Tam / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A cheetah seems to play hide and seek with a topi. Photo: Leslie McLeod / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A Steller’s sea eagle on drifting sea ice. Photo: Mark Meth Cohn / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Two Cape Fur seals appear to laugh about something. Photo: Marti Phillips / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
An eager gecko. Photo: Michela Bordoli / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Squirrel legs appear from the side of the tree it’s jumping into. Photo: Milko Marchetti / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Three bears stand together in Alaska. Photo: Philippe Ricordel / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Rockhopper penguins roll up to the scene. Photo: Ralph Robinson / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A female fan-throated lizard standing upright. Photo: Sanjay Patil / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
Zebras confusing the viewer—which one is in front? Photo: Sarosh Lodhi. / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
An owlet appears to be made uncomfortable by its parents. Photo: Sarthak Ranganadhan / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A lioness appears to nag a male lion. Photo: Scott Frier / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A flying squirrel in a tree. Photo: Takashi Kubo / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A white-tailed eagle ruffling its feathers. Photo: Tapani Linnanmäki / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
A parrotfish being cleaned by two other fish. Photo: Wim Bellemans / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
An adult Adelie penguin stands over its chick. Photo: Zikri Teo / Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
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The competition also included three video finalists, including clips of an ape having trouble climbing a branch, a fox rolling in the grass, and one tern taking a turn riding on (checks notes) another tern. Many terns to take a look at.
Earlier this year, the competition released a shortlist of photos under consideration for this year’s prize. Those images included shots of a three-headed giraffe, some too-curious birds, and polar bears apparently telling bad jokes. They’re the kind of photos you have to see to believe, or at least understand.
The overall winner of the annual awards, as well as the category and highly commended winners, will be announced in London on December 10. The categories up for consideration include one for mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, insects, fish “and other aquatic species,” according to an awards release. There are also competition categories for young photographer, junior photographer, video, and of course, the people’s choice award.
Besides offering moments of levity from the natural world—a beautiful but merciless place to eke out existence—the images showcase the importance of conservation. Take the image of the chance meeting between two birds at the top of this article. That’s an image the ivory-billed woodpecker will never have the chance to recreate. Wildlife is majestic, pretty, surprising, and yes, funny, but it’s up to humankind to keep it that way.
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