Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards Celebrate 10,000 Entries to Boost Conservation

Never work with animals. That old saying holds some truth, though it is often taken out of context. Most assume WC Fields meant creatures are too wild to handle. He actually warned that they would steal the spotlight anyway. Camera firm Nikon has chosen to embrace this reality with their Comedy Wildlife Awards.

Paul Joynson-Hicks MBE and Tom Sullam started this event back in 2015. This year brought more than 10,000 entries from 112 nations, a record high for the competition. Photographers representing countries like Peru, India, and Singapore made the final list. Several British shooters received praise as well.

Laughter is certainly part of the appeal when seeing animals in funny situations. The awards serve a serious purpose though. They aim to promote wildlife conservation efforts. This year supports the Born Tree Foundation. That charity rescues wild animals from exploitation and protects threatened species for future generations.

Tom Sullam explained the mission clearly. He said, 'The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards started very gently, somewhere out on the vast plains of the Serengeti.' What began as a small effort to raise awareness has grown into something far bigger than we ever imagined. The competition is now truly global. A decade or so in, they want to make it even bigger, funnier, and more far-reaching than ever. They use humour to get people to feel empathy towards wildlife. It is that empathy which creates behavioural change for the better.

The finalists list includes a coiffured giraffe, an annoyed orangutan, and some giggling seals among others. Here are specific examples from around the world. 'This is my best side' by Natalie Veekmans from Belgium shows two beavers in Ardennen who seemed happy to pose for the camera. Scott Suriano captured a brown bear in Lake Clark, Alaska, appearing to begin her morning with some pretty rigorous exercises in his entry called 'Morning calisthenics'.

Udo Harms from Germany submitted 'Little Godzilla', featuring a small squirrel seen in Hannover that cuts a looming figure with some grass in its mouth. Dirk Koster from the Netherlands photographed a giraffe in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, that seems to be wearing an umbrella acacia tree as a hat for his photo titled 'The different one'. Diego Perez from Peru found a preying mantis whose forelegs appeared like human legs in a shot he called 'Sexy mantis' taken in rural Camanti.

Thong Duy Vu captured a Garden Sunbird cooling off in a bright red banana blossom filled with water and sweet nectar for his piece 'Out of water'. Tanner Mansell took an image of an orangutan deep in the Borneo Jungle who didn't take too kindly to being papped, titled 'Spicy Orangutan'. Lynn Emery from the UK photographed a pair of Little Owls in the Al Qudra desert in Dubai that formed an optical illusion making it look like there is just one animal present. Rosie Barrett submitted '#ForTheGram', showing a brown bear in Finland striking a pose worthy of the showbiz sections of any newspaper.

Robert Gondek from Poland took a picture of a Senegal Chameleon in Togo looking surprised to be caught out on the ground for 'The Ground Is Lava'. Lukas Andree Andersen captured an exhausted badger cub needing to take a breather on the floor of a Swedish forest. The list continues with various other humorous captures showing animals in unexpected moments.

Traffic discipline gets a lesson from Shaliza Singhal's shot of an elephant in Kenya's Amboseli National Park. The animal seems to kick a car away with pure disdain. A whale shark looms over a tiny spadefish nearby, as Kyo Chen captured around Dumaguete in the Philippines. Lee Frost found a perfect frame in Stoke-on-Trent where an Azure damselfly peers through a hole in a leaf.

Cliff Fawcett spotted a shy elephant in Addo National Park, South Africa. This one used its trunk to cover its eye so no one could see it. Marek Jackowski photographed elephant seals on the South Georgia coast striking a serious pose. Heather Cudworth says an adult elephant looks like she is scolding a youngster in Amboseli National Park.

Jeetendra Chaware caught two blue-winged parakeets in south India appearing to kiss coyly. Doug Gimesy filmed elephant seals on Macquarie Island gently playing with each other. Eric Boren took a shot of a polar bear in Svalbard, Norway looking longingly at a gull. Eigil B Jensen saw an ahinga in Los Chiles, Costa Rica carrying prey that makes it look like a monster mix of two animals.

Jan Wittmet captured a furious-looking goldcrest staring straight into the lens from Helgoland, Germany. Andy Rouse said his photo of a water buffalo in Sri Lanka looked like she was wearing a fancy bonnet. Barbara Seiberl-Stark got a lioness pushing her cub over in Zimbabwe. Celine Nic Oireachtaigh found one greylag goose all tuckered out among its flock in Ireland.

Paolo Torre spotted a caiman in Brazil that appears to be taking after Elvis Presley himself. David Lee took a picture of a long-tailed macaque in Singapore who looks like he got into a painful accident. Tapani Linnanmäki photographed a white-tailed eagle strutting its stuff in Kustavi, Finland. Carolyn Moore found an adorable brown hare in Wiltshire that looks embarrassed by something.

Robert Nairn shot a sparrowhawk in Dumfries, Scotland giving the performance of a lifetime on a piece of moss. Charles Janson saw two brown bears cracking each other up in Chinitna Bay, Alaska. Andy Parkinson captured a young olive baboon showing off its might in Kenya's Mara North Conservancy. Homagni Sahana took a shot of a leopard leaping down from its perch in Samburu National Reserve in Kenya.

Marek Jackowski got an elephant seal flashing a big cheesy grin in South Georgia. Subi Sridharan found one meerkat preening another in Namibia. Hannah Dietl photographed a baby elephant poking its head out of the grass in South Africa. Ka Chum Jacky Sung caught a fuming mountain scops-owl in China's Nanling National Forest Park not best pleased by the photographer. Remi Schnell saw a red squirrel soaring through the air in France.