Tumbling lion and winking owl are among the winners of the 2022 Comedy Wildlife ... trends now
A photograph of a three-month-old lion cub tumbling down a tree trunk after trying to find a path to the ground in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, has won the 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.
Wildlife photographer Jenifer Hadley from the USA came out on top with his image entitled Not so cat-like reflexes, beating 5,000 entries submitted from more than 85 countries.
The image also won the Alex Walker's Serian Creatures of the Land Award.
The annual photography competition is free to enter and is in its eighth year, taking in entries from professional and amateur photographers.
Jennifer Hadley, 'Not so cat-like reflexes' Lion cub (Serengeti National Park, Tanzania) - This three-month-old cub and his sibling were in a tree. The other lionesses were in other trees and on the ground. He wanted to get down and walked all over the branches looking for the right spot and finally just went for it. It was probably his first time in a tree and his descent didn't go so well. He was just fine though after landing on the ground. He got up and ran off with some other cubs'
Jean Jacques Alcalay, 'Misleading African viewpoints 2', Hippo and Heron (Kruger National Park, South Africa) - Hippo yawning next to a heron standing on the back of another hippo
Arturo Telle Thiemann, 'Say cheeeese', Grey triggerfish, Ballistes capriscus (Faial, Azores) - A couple of triggerfish looking into the camera, captured at the Azores.Even they may look funny, these fish can be quite aggressive. In this case they didn't attempt to bite me, but the domeport of my camera housing ended up with some scratches... life is hard... at least it wasn't me who was hurt
Arshdeep Singh, 'I CU boy !', Spotted Owl (Bikaner, India) - Few hundred miles away we went to explore wildlife of a small town named 'Bikaner'. It was after almost a year I travelled because of covid. We hired a guide to explore places around. During last day of our trip we came across a pipe in a city where we spotted an owlet. I have earlier clicked owls in a pipe before so I was sure that I wasn't mistake. We waited for a short while and it didn't take a long time and one of the spotted owlet came out of the pipe. It was really funny when he came out and looked at me straight, before going inside he closed one of his eyes and felt like he wanted to say I CU boy ! and I immediately snapped a picture when he gave this pose
Commenting on her win, Hadley said: 'I have been following the Comedy Wildlife for a number of years and have always enjoyed the photos.
'It was really at the last minute that I decided to enter some photos this year and I'm so excited and honoured to be named as the overall winner and the People's Choice as well.
'Honestly, when I saw all the finalists come out, I was just happy to be among them but I never expected to win. There were so many amazing and funny animal photos in the group, and I had such a laugh looking through them.
'I really love this photo contest because it's just so different from anything else and really shows off the personalities of the animals plus it helps raise awareness of various wildlife and funds conservation efforts so it's just really awesome to be a part of this.'
The Amazing Internet Portfolio Award went to Jia Chen for Football Dream, a series of four wonderful images depicting a skillful Coopers Hawk having fun playing football in Canada
Jennifer Hadley, 'Talk To The Fin!', Gentoo Penguin (Falkland Islands) - This was shot on the Falkland Islands. These two gentoo penguins were hanging out on the beach when one shook himself off and gave his mate the snub
As the 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Jennifer wins a safari in the Masai Mara, Kenya, with Alex Walker’s Serian, plus a unique hand-made trophy from the Wonder Workshop in Tanzania and a photography bag from THINK TANK.
Elsewhere, a hippo yawning next to a heron standing on the back of another hippo, entitled Misleading African viewpoints 2, captured by
