A Sneak Peek at Some of the 2025 Comedy Wildlife Photography Entries

Every year, elegant shots of gliding whales and prowling tigers wow the world. But one competition is brave enough to take a stand against the tyranny of animals looking impressive. The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards platforms animals making stupid expressions, sitting in weird ways, and having bad hair days.

Entry into the 2025 competition is free, and open until June 30. But select entries were shared with Popular Science — and with over 1,000 more already submitted, it’s clear 2025 will be a great year for animals being silly.

You don’t look as suave as you think

One subset of these photos features animals engaged in normal behavior, such as running and diving. But the timing of the photographs highlights the dorky positions in which we all find ourselves during routine moments. Especially when we’re penguins.

A line of penguins waiting to jump off an iceberg. One plummets like a rock in mid-jump.

Penguins rarely manage to look noble, but even so, they don’t often look like they’re queuing up to do head cannonballs into the water. Photo: Martin Schmid/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

 

A deer in mid-jump, ears straight up.

Fix your ears, young lady. Photo: Jeremy Duvekot/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

What’s that on your head?

Another staple of the Wildlife Comedy Awards is animals with things on their heads that definitely shouldn’t be on their heads. From other animals hitching a ride to make-shift hats and hairdos, the new photos have got you covered.

A rhino grazing in water with reeds draped over its head.

Social media sets impossible beauty standards for women. How can anyone compete with this rhino and her glorious up-do? Photo: Yann Chauvette/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

 

One small lizard sits on a very large lizard's head.

Somehow, I feel the little lava lizard holds the real power in this relationship. Photo: Rachelle Mackintosh/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

 

Hey, leave that to humans…

Douglas Adams, author of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, posited that there were at least two species on Earth more intelligent than humans (dolphins and — well, the other is a spoiler). But some of the 2025 Wildlife Comedy photos suggest other species are working their way up the ladder as well…

One lion helping another up a tree.

Next thing you know, these two will have figured out how to belay. Photo: Bhargava Srivari/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

 

Two birds sit on a branch next to a massive nest.

How many children are these two planning to have? Photo: Brian Hempstead/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

That was my bad angle, can you retake it?

No collection of funny animal photos would be complete without this old classic. Sometimes animals look majestic right until you see the expression they were making when you snapped the photo.

Admittedly, mudskippers were probably never majestic in the first place.

Two mudskippers with their mouths wide open.

I suspect the existence of mudskippers to be a CIA psy-op, but I haven’t figured out what the point would be. Photo: Emma Parker/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

 

An eagle with its beak open looking stupid.

You, I expected better from. Photo: Annette Kirby/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025

 

For words from the competition’s founder and the original photo captions, head on over to Popular Science.

Reynier Squillace

Reynier Squillace (they/them) received a BS in Astronomy from the University of Arizona in 2023 and an MS in Astronomy from the University of Virginia in 2025. Now a PhD student in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Virginia, they write telescope software and use radio signals from dead stars to figure out what exists in the empty-looking parts of deep space. Their other academic interests include astronomy during the French Revolution, US aerospace export controls, and 18th century charlatan physicist Johann Bessler. In their spare time, they teach trapeze and aerial hoop– and avidly follow the mountaineering coverage on ExplorersWeb!