The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, now sponsored by Nikon, has run annually since 2015. They have now announced their 2026 finalists, so it is time to review some of the best and funniest photos the wildlife photography world has to offer.
Paolo Torre suggests that the vegetation of this Caiman’s head looks like Elvis’s hair. I would instead propose that this fellow is sporting a fashionable hat. Squint your eyes and picture a Renaissance flat cap with fluffy black feathers. Photo: Paolo Torre/Comedy Wildlife
Conservation by comedy
Part of the competition’s mission statement is to promote conservation through the personal connections that humor can create. This makes sense to me; have you ever noticed that a lot of nature photography winners are whales? Now, I enjoy a good whale, but I have very little in common with the majestically breaching humpback or the sublimely gigantic blue whale. A stupid-looking bird, however? That’s an animal I can see myself in.
Don’t you, dear reader, feel kinship with this poor awkward thing? Doesn’t it look like it needs some walking around money? This is how we fund conservation. Photo: Robert Nairn/Comedy Wildlife
If you’d rather see yourself in an amphibian, Jeremy Richard’s entry to the portfolio category may be the ticket. In Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park, an unseen romantic rival has catapulted this African bullfrog over the head of an astonished peer.
All’s fair in love and war. Photo: Jeremy Richards/Comedy Wildlife
Though the frog world appears to be rough and tumble, not all wildlife interactions are so antagonistic. On the pack ice off the coast of Svalbard, Eric Boren captured a polar bear at rest, appearing to peacefully contemplate a small ivory gull seated within chomping distance.
This looks like the scene from an Aesop’s fable that got cut for time. Photo: Erec Boren/Comedy Wildlife
You can view the full gallery here, but we’ll treat ourselves to a couple more good ones for the road. One of three elephant image finalists, the image captured by Shailza Singhal uses forced perspective to allow us to briefly live in the beautiful world where our favorite pachyderms are 30 meters tall.
Photo: Shailza Singhal/Comedy Wildlife
The winners will be announced on December 8, and we, the public, decide the results of at least one award. The STERNA People’s Choice Award goes to whichever finalist receives the most votes, and you can go here to vote for the caiman wearing a hat. Or a different image, if you must.
If your thirst for humorous wildlife images can’t be slaked, check out some of our favorites from the 2025 competition.
There isn’t a category for images that look like a dream you had once when you had the flu, but if there were, this image would win. Photo: Marek Jackowski/Comedy Wildlife
