The 2026 Comedy Wildlife Photography Finalists Are Here And We Cannot Stop Laughing
The Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards received more than 10,000 entries from 112 countries in 2026 and has narrowed the field to 40 finalists, each one a photograph taken by a wildlife photographer who managed to keep a straight face long enough to press the shutter. The competition was founded by Tom Sullam, who described its origins as a small effort on the vast plains of the Serengeti to raise awareness of wildlife conservation through humor, and said the goal of using laughter to generate empathy toward wildlife, and using that empathy to create behavioral change, has driven everything since. Highlights from this year's 40 finalists include a brown hare photographed mid-moment in Wiltshire by Carolyn Moore, captioned Oops, I think I just parped, whose expression requires no further explanation. A young great horned owl in Santa Cruz, California was photographed being aerial-tackled off its perch by a protective squirrel, which then repeated the stunt twice more. An elephant in Addo National Park was captured approaching a group of other elephants with complete confidence, stopping at 20 yards, raising its trunk, covering one eye, and executing what photographer Cliff Fawcett described as a very slow, very awkward U-turn. A polar bear in Svalbard was photographed in the precise moment of contemplating an ivory gull that had landed just out of reach. And a tiny green mantis in Cusco, Peru, photographed peeking over a leaf by Diego Peres, inspired the following observation from photographer to judges: almost everyone I showed it to reacted the same way. They laughed immediately, even if they couldn't quite explain why.
Other finalists include a caiman in the Pantanal with aquatic vegetation arranged on its head in what photographer Paolo Torre described as resembling a 1950s rock and roll hairstyle, and which the competition has filed under the name Elvis. A water buffalo in Sri Lanka lifted its head as photographer Andy Rouse was watching, and the vegetation around it arranged itself into what he could only describe as a fancy bonnet, prompting the name Doris. A brown bear in Finland was photographed pausing at the top of a tree in a pose that photographer Rosie Barrett said was clearly for Instagram, captioned, with her spelling, un-bear-lieavable. A meerkat in Namibia was photographed insisting on giving a last-minute grooming inspection to its companions while the others were clearly trying to look respectable. And a Vietnamese garden sunbird in a red banana blossom discovered, mid-bath, that the blossom had run out of water, and expressed the precise feelings of a person who arrives at a five-star spa and finds it has been overbooked. Judges will review all 40 finalists and announce winners at an awards night in London on December 8. The top prize is a safari in the Masai Mara. The real prize, as everyone involved seems to understand, is the 10,000 people who went out into the world looking for something funny in the wild and found it waiting for them. All 40 finalists are available to view at comedywildlifephoto.com.
