[imagesource: Paul Goldstein / Comedywildlife]

This year’s Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards is surely a celebration of “all things bright and beautiful, all creatures, great and small”, as Cecil Frances Alexander once said.

From lions, bears and chubby seals, to tiny birds and turtles, all animals are remarkable in their own ways.

Taking a gander at the images in the final shortlist of the 2023 annual Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards competition, one can see how the animal kingdom, while filled with action and drama, is also outright hilarious when a photographer is able to freeze a moment in time.

Previous finalists have included a lion colliding with a tree (2022) and a monkey landing in the most unfortunate way on a branch (2021). This year’s selection also proves that, yes, animals are just as strange and silly as we are.

This view of giraffes in Namibia’s Onguma Game Reserve is titled “Oh My, Talk About Poking Your Nose Into Someone Else’s Business”:

These three King Penguins on Argentina’s Islas Malvinas look like they’re holding hands – sorry, fins – in “Fellowship”:

This otter in Singapore is a ballerina through and through:

A bear in Finland seemed to insist on getting its photograph taken in “Picture Me Picture Me”:

This shot of two polar bears on Svalbard shows a mother pushing her offspring into the water, titled “Ready Steady Go”:

“Hang Loose” is of a lion cub landing awkwardly on a trunk in the Masai Mara:

“Part of Your World” shows a fun perspective of a batfish on a dive off the Seychelles:

Call this sassy monkey in Bali “The Rainforest Dandy”:

Birds be tweeting in this photograph titled “Dispute”:

“My friends interpret this scene in two ways,” said photographer Jacek Stankiewicz, in a Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards release. “1. A young naughty kid is arguing with a parent,” or “2. One kid is reporting to the parent that its brother did something wrong: look he has broken the glass in the window.”

 

This white grouse “Snowball” looks like it’s ready to be thrown at an unsuspecting passerby – but please don’t:

This young kangaroo looks like he’s practising air guitar in this shot taken in Perth, Australia:

This seal off Staten Island, New York, is living its best life:

“A Happy Turtle” appears enthralled by a dragonfly that bravely landed on its nose in Israel’s Jezreel Valley:

[source:gizmodo]