A sexy hippo, owl kiss, and a squirrel stuck in a tree. 10 funniest photos of 2024

The winners of the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2024 have been announced. The 10 funniest photos show a funny squirrel stuck in a tree, an owl kiss, and even a sexy hippo with a leaf on its head.

This year, more than 9000 images were submitted, and the judges narrowed it down to a shortlist of just 45 images. The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2024 was called "the funniest and most popular photography competition in the world," writes DailyMail.

A hilarious photo of a squirrel stuck in a tree won the top prize at the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards 2024.

"Over the years in Italy, I have taken many, many photographs of squirrels in many situations. But this one struck me as very funny and such a strange position, because it's exactly the moment when the squirrel takes its hind legs off its body to get into the hiding place," explained the winner, Milko Marchetti.

Nikon Europe Senior General Manager Marketing Stefan Mayer said that this year's competition received "a record number of entries, each one a testament to the power of photography to evoke emotion."

Jose Miguel Gallego Molina won in the Insects category for his image of a praying mantis dancing flamenco.

And Eberhard Emke received the Reptiles and Amphibians award for his photo titled "Frog in a Balloon". "During a photo shoot by a pond, I found this frog with its head in a bubble. It looks like a bell," explained Emke.

Damian Petkov's image "Mustachioed Tern Crashes While Landing" was recognized as the winner in the Birds category.

A funny photo of a fish hunting a bald eagle won the Fish and Other Aquatic Species award.

Sarthakk Ranganadhan won in the under-16 category for his owl photo. "It was really a funny sight to see two owls trying to get some privacy while their baby stood next to them smiling with their eyes closed," the photographer said.

And photographer Kingston Tam won in the under 25 category for his image titled "Clumsy Smiley Frog".

The People's Choice Award went to Tapani Linnanmaki for his photograph of a bald eagle ruffling its feathers. "The camera was placed on the sea ice on top of a bag of nuts. I could not believe my eyes when I saw this photo. There were more than ten funny poses and expressions in the photo series," the photographer shared the details of the shooting.

Flynn Taitanunde-Lobb received the Amazing Internet Portfolio Award for his series of images of a squirrel playing with a stick.

Kevin Lohman won the prize in the Video category for his video about a fox. "A red fox on a cold morning could not get enough of the fun of rolling around on the frosty grass," the author described the plot of the video.

However, one of the favorites was "Sexy Hippo" by Artur Stankevich.

"My idea was to try to capture the fighting hippos, but they were all pretty peaceful. And this guy seemed to have just come to the hairdresser with a big smile on his face," the photographer commented on his photo.

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