2 / 19Winner of Affinity Photo 2 People's Choice Award: Jennifer Hadley (Raleigh, United States)
Title: Talk To The Fin!
Description: This was shot on the Falkland Islands. These two gentoo penguins were hanging out on the beach when one shook himself off and gave his mate the snub.
Animal: Gentoo Penguin
Location of shot: Falkland Islands Jennifer Hadley/Comedy Wildlife 2022
3 / 19Winner of Air Award: Jean-Jacques Alcalay-Marcon (Montmeyran, France)
Title: Misleading African Viewpoints 2
Description: Hippo yawning next to a heron standing on the back of another hippo
Animal: Hippo
Location of shot: Kruger National Park, South AfricaJean-Jacques ALCALAY /Comedy Wildlife 2022
4 / 19Winner of Junior Award: Arshdeep Singh (Jalandhar City, India)
Title: I CU boy !
Description: Few hundred miles away we went to explore wildlife of a small town named Bikaner. It was after almost a year I travelled because of COVID. We hired a guide to explore places around. During last day of our trip we came across a pipe in a city where we spotted an owlet. I have earlier clicked owls in a pipe before so I was sure that I wasnât mistake. We waited for a short while and it didnât take a long time and one of the spotted owlet came out of the pipe. It was really funny when he came out and looked at me straight, before going inside he closed one of his eyes and felt like he wanted to say I CU boy ! and I immediately snapped a picture when he gave this pose.
Animal: Spotted Owlet
Location of shot: Bikaner, India Arshdeep Singh/Comedy Wildlife 2022
5 / 19Winner of Underwater category: Arthur Telle Thiemann (Telde, Spain)
Title: "Say cheeeese"
Description: A couple of triggerfish looking into the camera, captured at the Azores. Even they may look funny, these fish can be quite aggressive. In this case they didn't attempt to bite me, but the domeport of my camera housing ended up with some scratches... life is hard... at least it wasn't me who was hurt
Animal: Grey triggerfish, Ballistes capriscus
Location of shot: Faial, Azores Arthur Telle Thiemann/Comedy Wildlife 2022
6 / 19Portfolio Winner: Jia Chen (Oakville, Canada)
Title: 1. Kick-off
Description: The juvenile cooper's hawk has a dream to become a football start. It is practicing. First kick-off.
Animal: Cooper's Hawk
Location of shot: Ontario, Canada Supplied PR image for Traveller, check for reuse. Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards winners 2022Supplied
7 / 19Portfolio Winner: Jia Chen (Oakville, Canada)
Title: 1. Kick-off
Description: The juvenile cooper's hawk has a dream to become a football start. It is practicing. First kick-off.
Animal: Cooper's Hawk
Location of shot: Ontario, Canada Supplied PR image for Traveller, check for reuse. Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards winners 2022Supplied
8 / 19Portfolio Winner: Jia Chen (Oakville, Canada)
Title: 1. Kick-off
Description: The juvenile cooper's hawk has a dream to become a football start. It is practicing. First kick-off.
Animal: Cooper's Hawk
Location of shot: Ontario, Canada Supplied PR image for Traveller, check for reuse. Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards winners 2022Supplied
9 / 19Portfolio Winner: Jia Chen (Oakville, Canada)
Title: 1. Kick-off
Description: The juvenile cooper's hawk has a dream to become a football start. It is practicing. First kick-off.
Animal: Cooper's Hawk
Location of shot: Ontario, Canada Supplied PR image for Traveller, check for reuse. Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards winners 2022Supplied
10 / 19Highly Commended
Title: Fight Back
Description: This salmon decide to punch the bear in the face rather than be lunch.
Animal: Bear
Location of shot: Alaska John D. Chaney/Comedy Wildlife 2022
11 / 19Highly Commended
Title: Excuse Me... Pardon Me!
Description: A duckling walking/waddling across a turtle covered log at the Juanita wetlands, the duckling fell off after a few turtle crossings, it was cute.
Animal: a duckling and turtles
Location of shot: Juanita Bay Park, Lake Washington, Kirkland, WA Ryan Sims /Comedy Wildlife 2022
12 / 19Highly Commended
Title: Jumping Jack
Description: A red squirrel jumps during a rainstorm, so you can see the drops flying around.
Animal: Red Squirrel
Location of shot: The Netherlands, Maashorst Alex Pansier/Comedy Wildlife 2022
13 / 19Highly Commended
Title: "I'm gonna strangle you!"
Description: I was following a group of meerkats on foot in the Kalahari Trails Game Reserve, in South Africa. Most individuals, including adults, were in a playful mood. It gave me a unique opportunity to capture very interesting and dynamic interactions between some members of the group. In the photo that I have selected, there is no aggression between individuals, but rather an interaction that reminds us of humans when one of your friends jokes about you and you pretend to strangle them and, in response, they open their mouth like a simpleton :-)
Animal: Meerkats or suricates (Suricata suricatta)
Location of shot: Kalahari Trails Game Reserve, South Africa Emmanuel Do Linh San/Comedy Wildlife 2022
14 / 19Highly Commended
Title: Monkey wellness center
Description: Walking near a cambodian temple where groups of wild monkeys lived, I came across this scene: a wild monkey in total relax, while its friend was taking care of it.
Animal: Monkey
Location of shot: Cambodia, Baphuon Temple Federica Vinci/Comedy Wildlife 2022
15 / 19Highly Commended
Title: Pegasus, the flying horse.
Description: Actually this is Indian Saras Crane attacking a Bluebull from behind, the bull happened to venture close to Saras's nest, where in, it had laid a single egg. The Saras Crane, which is tallest flying bird in the world, opened it's huge wings and attacked the bull from behind, driving the bull away from the nest.
Animal: Bluebull and Indian saras Crane.
Location of shot: Keoladeo National Park, India. Jagdeep Rajput/Comedy Wildlife 2022
16 / 19Highly Commended
Title: Tight Fit!
Description: I was going to see and photograph this eastern screech owl nest in a local park in Florida. One morning, a few days before the two owlets fledged, one owlet tried to squeeze into the nest hole with Mom, maybe to see the outside world for the first time. It was hilarious and I was glad I was there that morning to photograph it. The moment lasted only a few seconds as Mom didn't seem very happy with the arrangement. Check out the expression on her face.
Animal: Eastern Screech Owl and Owlet
Location of shot: Largo, Florida, USA Mark Schocken/Comedy Wildlife 2022
17 / 19Highly Commended
Title: Keep calm and keep your head
Description: Two King Penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) at Volunteer Point in the Falklands. The right hand bird may have an inscrutable expression but it must be wondering where its mate's head has gone. Perhaps it is a Rudyard Kipling scholar: 'If you can keep your head when all about you. Are losing theirs and blaming it on you ...
Animal: King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus)
Location of shot: Volunteer Point, East Falkland Martin Grace/ Comedy Wildlife 2022
18 / 19Highly Commended
Title: It's all kicking off!
Description: Apart from its beauty, Cape Hillsborough is renowned for its resident kangaroos and wallabies. I visited the area for three consecutive sunrises, but it was on my final morning that I captured this beautiful spectacle, two wallabies playing / fighting on the beach as the sun burst through the surrounding clouds.
Animal: Wallabies
Location of shot: Cape Hillsborough, Queensland Michael Eastwell/Comedy Wildlife 2022
A clumsy lion cub, a duo of stroppy penguins, and a sleepy hippo have taken out the top honours at this year's Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.
American photographer Jennifer Hadley was named the winner of the contest's top two gongs for 2022 amongst fierce competition. Her photo 'Not so cat-like reflexes' depicting a lion cub losing its grip on a tree trunk saw her crowned overall winner, while her photograph 'Talk to the Fin!' featuring a penguin snubbing a fellow bird snapped up the People's Choice gong.
"I think part of what makes this contest great is that most of these photos probably happen by complete accident and that was certainly the case with the lion cub falling out of the tree," said Hadley of her winning photograph.
The gasp that came from her vehicle when the three-month-old cub fell from the tree was palatable, according to the photographer.
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"No one expected this to happen and of course we were concerned for his safety but happily as cats do, he righted himself just in time and landed on all fours and ran off with his siblings," said Hadley. "A happy ending for a hapless kitty who didn't quite know how to get down from a tree."
Judges selected the winning photographs from a pool of about 5000 photos spanning photographers from 85 countries. Overall winner Hadley walked away with a one-week Masai Mara safari prize, along with a handmade trophy.
Among the winning photos was one depicting the moment a heron looks as if it's about to be gobbled up by a hippo (who is actually just having a yawn), and one showing a pair of photogenic triggerfish.
The awards were founded in 2015 by two photographers and conservationists Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam, who wanted to highlight the importance of wildlife conservation by capturing some of the more fun and quirky moments in the wild.
The awards also support partner charity Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN), which provides much-needed funds for conservation leaders in 80 countries across the globe.
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Past winning subjects of the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards include 2021's golden silk monkey whose snap, titled 'Ouch', appears to depict the mammal in a painful predicament, and prior to this a moody turtle, captured in a photo that appears to show the reptile giving 2020 the bird.
Katherine Scott is a reporter and digital producer with Traveller.