14 silly, never-before-seen images from the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

Nature, you're hilarious.

By Popular Science Team

Published Mar 19, 2026 8:02 PM EDT

a baby lion runs into its mother's butt — "Head to Tail." I witnessed this scene in the Masa Mara park where two young lions were playing with their mother, they were rolling around with her until one of them found himself in a rather uncomfortable and incongruous situation. Credit: Bernard Beauné / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

Accidentally running face-first into your mom’s butt is funny, no matter your species.

The Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards opened for entries this week and to hype up the 2026 competition, the top wildlife photography competition for not-so-serious animals has released outtakes from last year’s contest. And they don’t disappoint. We get a caiman with butterfly accessories, a friendly damselfly, and two baboons caught in a compromising position.

Julia Butterflies will often land on a caiman's eyes to lap up the minerals found in their salty crocodile tears — “Feeling cute, might delete later”
Julia Butterflies will often land on a caiman’s eyes to lap up the minerals found in their salty crocodile tears. This particular Spectacled Caiman in Brazil’s Pantanal looked especially pleased with its new fashion accessories, and I couldn’t resist taking a photo of that self-satisfied look.
Credit: Morris Hersko / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025 Morris Hersko

More than 10,000 entries competed in 2025 with top honors bestowed on UK-based photographer Mark Meth-Cohn. And the competition isn’t just about laughs—it also works to boost conservation issues. “The Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards is proud to support Born Free Foundation, an international wildlife charity that has been championing compassionate conservation and campaigning to protect wild animals for over 40 years,” a statement reads.

The contest is free to enter, and photographers can use any type of camera brand. Entries must be submitted until June 30, 2026, with a shortlist revealed in October and the winners announced in December.

Blue-tailed damselfly on a branch — “Hide and Seek”
Every time I tried to photograph this damselfly he would turn behind the blade of grass. When I gave up he would wave ‘goodbye.’
Credit: Mignon-van-den-Wittenboer / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

the tail of a parrot popping out of one hole of a pole and a head pops out of another hole — “World’s Longest Parrot”
Several parrots in a pole, giving the illusion of one long parrot.
Credit: Elizabeth Sanjuan / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025 e sanjuan

two blue-footed boobies — “The Dance Floor”
Pair of blue footed bobbies in courtship.
Credit: Brigitte Alcalay-Marcon / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

an egret places its foot on a turtle — “Stop, I Was There First!”
Credit: Bruno Zavattin / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025 ZAVATTIN BRUNO

a squirrl holding food — “The Happy Squirrel”
This lovely squirrel looks as happy as a little child with a cookie.
Credit: Pilar Lopez-Laseras / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

an elephant seal flaps in the sand — “Flying Elephant Seal”
This photograph is extremely special to me as it was taken in February last year. The elephant seal in this picture is quite famous in the Western Cape South Africa, his name is Buffel after being first spotted in Buffelsbay in 2014. They come to land for up to 4 weeks every year to molt and shed their whole pelt in order to make sure it is strong and ready for their long journeys. This particular image I spent 8 hours waiting to take.
Credit: Stefan Botha / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025 Johan Botha

a baboon stands in front of another baboon — “Explicit monkey business”
The image is explanatory.
Credit: Timothy Parrant / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

a bird with a pink flower on its beak — “Pink Beak”
In April, I visited a small village in the Himalayas for bird-watching. During my trip, I came across a stripe-throated yuhina feeding on a flower. As it was sipping nectar, one of the flowers suddenly got stuck on its beak. Within a fraction of a second, the bird quickly shook it off. I was fortunate to capture a few shots of that fleeting moment.
Credit: Arindam Saha / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025 ARINDAM SAHA

a heron and a beaver fighting — “Morning Meeting”
Shortly after sunrise I was waiting for a grey heron to fish for his breakfast. All over sudden a nutria appeared to chase the grey heron away – successfully.
Credit: Andrea Gubitz / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025 GUBITZ

four frogs stacked on each other — “Menage à Quatre”
Our children love spring at the local woodland we visit on a regular basis. It’s the time of year we go “toad watching”. On this particular occasion the female had quite the following. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her but the at the same time her expression was so comical. Never had the act of reproduction looked so mundane and such a chore!
Credit: John Harris / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

a burrowing owl bent at the legs into a right angle — “Core Strength”
So, how long can you hold that pose? I always love to catch birds taking off from a perch. That first powerful wing beat and then “take off”! This little Burrowing Owl had a different approach in mind, and it seemed to work just fine!
Credit: Scott Kalter / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

a red kangaroo on the golf course holding a hole marker flag — “Golf Hazard”
There’s no doubt about it, Kangaroos love golf courses. People provide safety and there’s lots of fresh grass and shade to work with. While staying near Mareeba, Queensland, I’d get up early to check out the Kangaroos. Typically, they would just be lazing around but on this morning, I spotted one on a green at a distance. Suddenly, it reached over and grabbed the flag, appearing intent on doing battle with it. Unsure of how to handle the lack of response, the kangaroo eventually abandoned its combatant and the green.
Credit: Michael Lambie / Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025 Michael Lambie