2025’s Funniest Wildlife Photos Prove Humor & Timing Are Traits Of Nature
Overall Winner & Mammals Category Winner: High Five by Mark Meth Cohn (UK). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
Nature doesn’t rehearse, but it often has a knack for timing. Case in point: this gorilla frozen mid-gesture. Shot in Rwanda earlier this year, Mark Meth-Cohn’s perfectly timed work of the ape in the midst of a forest clearing, arms raised as if caught in a celebratory “high five,” has now earned the UK-based amateur photographer the top prize at the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards 2025.
Titled High Five, the image stood out among a record-breaking 10,000 entries submitted from 109 countries, making this year the largest in the competition’s 11-year history. From the thousands of photographs and videos received, judges shortlisted 44 finalists across multiple categories. Meth-Cohn’s photograph not only claimed the overall title but also took home the Mammals Category Award, emerging as a clear favorite in a fiercely competitive field.
The moment was captured during a four-day trek through Rwanda’s misty Virunga Mountains, where Meth-Cohn encountered the Amahoro gorilla family. While adult gorillas foraged calmly, younger members of the group began to play. One energetic young male started pirouetting, tumbling, and kicking through the clearing. Meth-Cohn recalls watching the display with delight, later saying the brief performance was “pure joy” and that the photograph captured the animal’s playful spirit almost by accident.
Bird Category Winner: Headlock by Warren Price (UK). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
Fish & Other Aquatic Animals Category Winner: Smiley by Jenny Stock (UK). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
The 2025 awards also celebrated a wide range of category winners. Grayson Bell from the United States claimed both the Nikon Junior Photographer Award and the Reptile, Amphibian and Insect Category with Baptism of an Unwilling Convert, a close-up image of two frogs locked in a watery struggle.
Reptile, Amphibian & Insect Category Winner and Nikon Junior Category Winner (16 years and under): Baptism of the Unwilling Convert by Grayson Bell (USA). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
Nikon Young Photographer Category Winner (25 years and under): Hit the Dance Floor—Foxes in a Breakdance Battle by Paula Rustemeier (Germany). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
Paula Rustemeier of Germany won the Nikon Young Photographer Category for Hit the Dance Floor, a playful photograph of foxes, while fellow German photographer Tatjana Epp took the Nikon Video Category with a clip of a heron surfing across the water. Other category winners included Warren Price in the Bird Award, Jenny Stock for Fish and Aquatic Animals, and Maggie Hoffman for the Portfolio Category.
Portfolio Category Winner: Digging for Gold by Maggie Hoffman (USA). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
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Nikon Video Category Winner: Surfing Heron by Tatjana Epp (Germany). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
The winners were announced on Tuesday, December 9, at an awards ceremony in London, followed by a free public exhibition at the Gallery@Oxo from December 10 to 14.
The Comedy Wildlife Awards began in 2015 as a modest photo contest founded by Paul Joynson-Hicks MBE and Tom Sullam, both of whom had spent decades living and working in East Africa. What started as a lighthearted way to celebrate wildlife photography has since developed into a global event seen by millions each year. Despite its humorous framing, conservation sits at the heart of the competition. In 2025, the awards committed 10% of their profits to the Whitley Fund for Nature, which supports conservation leaders working across the Global South. Nikon continues its role as the headline sponsor.
Open to novices, amateurs, and professionals alike, the free-to-enter competition aims to connect audiences of all ages through humor, while also reinforcing the need to protect the natural world. Over the years, its entries have ranged from startled otters to oddly expressive turtles, images that transcend language and geography while inviting viewers into a broader conversation about conservation.
Smile, You’re Being Photographed by Valtteri Mulkahainen (Finland). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
The Choir by Meline Ellwanger (USA). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
Landing Gears Down by Erkko Badermann (Finland). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
Monkey Circus by Kalin Botev (Bulgaria). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
Bad Hair Day by Christy Grinton (Canada). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
I Just Can’t Wait To Be King by Bret Saalwaechter (USA). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
Fonzie’s Advertising by Liliana Luca (Italy). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
Now, Which Direction Is My Nest by Alison Tuck (UK). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
Go Away by Annette Kirby (Australia). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
Aaaaaww Mum by Mark Meth Cohn (UK). Image courtesy of Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, featured with permission
[via Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, images courtesy and featured with permission]
