41 hilarious animal photos in this year's Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

"The photo shows a grey seal," Slazok wrote. "In late autumn, seals leave the North Sea to give birth to their young."

"When I noticed this Egyptian goose flying to this small island, I immediately focused on the avocet, knowing that the avocet was going to charge in and see the goose off!" Holmes wrote. "When I reviewed the images, this one immediately put a smile on my face and stood out as having comedic charm."

"In this photo, the baby baboon was very playful while the mother was trying to groom it," Omwaka wrote. "The baby baboon tried getting away, and the mother held it by the ear. With a playful tug-of-war between motherly duty and the baby's adventurous spirit, this endearing scene captures the untamed joy of the wild."

"An unusual configuration of giraffes at a waterhole in the Onguma Game Reserve in Namibia, Africa," Gozansky wrote.

"At the sandbar in Moorea, ocean-dwellers practice the right of way to the more dominant species," Romano wrote.

"A puffin does an inverted Snoopy impression while watching jellyfish," Matthews wrote.

"This young chacma baboon is sitting on its mother's back playing the fool," Marcon wrote.

"The mother polar bear is pushing her hesitant young into the water with her leg," Marcon wrote.

"This young lion jumped on an old tree trunk and made this funny scene," Hargasser wrote.

"While I was working deep in the Virginian woods, a family of grey foxes took up residence under the deck of the abandoned cottage next to my work housing," Vaccaro wrote. "One day, while practicing their hunting skills on bits of moss and branches, one of the kits lunged at a small chunk of wood and started rolling around with his prize. Tired after his hunt, the kit lounged on his belly, still holding the wood in his mouth, which strongly resembled a cigar."

"This trip to the Seychelles was my first big trip after getting scuba-certified," Goonan wrote. "I caught this on one of the dives."

"These two stallions showed off their athletic abilities while fighting each other," Sullivan wrote. "No horses were hurt doing the tango."

"Three king penguins coming out of the water holding hands," Podesta captioned this photo.

"This is a crazy place where monkeys are king!" Casimir wrote. "Sometimes they give you a show, sometimes they climb on you to look for fleas or steal the piece of biscuit you are trying to eat."

Gabriely captured "a brown bear in Finland who definitely did everything to make me pay attention to him and not the other bears."

"I photographed this painted wolf at Lion Sands Game Reserve, a protected reserve with open borders next to Kruger National Park in South Africa," Keepin wrote. "It is wearing a tracker because, sadly, this species is endangered and is therefore being closely monitored by scientists. We need to learn to love our beaming neighbors!"

"I caught this scene while watching birds in the Bialowieza Forest," Stankiewicz wrote. "A young greenfinch was still being fed by its parents. However, from time to time, the birds looked like they were having an argument."

"The white grouse came to me looking like a snowball with eyes," Poulard wrote.

"I took this photo during a beautiful sunrise," Wozny wrote. "The dragonfly was sitting on a horsetail surrounded by dew, cleaning itself."

"This swan on the beach was very interested in me," Kolacz wrote.

"I was driving past a mob of western grey kangaroos feeding in an open field that was filled with attractive yellow flowers," Moore said. "I had my camera with me, so I stopped to grab a few photos. I suddenly noticed this individual adopt a humorous pose. To me, it looks like he's practicing strumming on his air guitar."

"A large group of gentoo penguins were returning from sea, when suddenly a lone chinstrap appeared among them," Frediani wrote. "The gestures in this confrontation are so recognizable, it was easy to surmise their conversation going like this: 'Are you sure my family didn't go this way?' 'No, I told you they went that way!'"

"This great grey owl spent most of the afternoon posing majestically and looking wise, but for a moment or two after doing some elegant stretching, it would slump and give a look of 'is Monday over yet?'" Blumenkamp wrote.

"Even beavers floss before and after every meal!" Vangoidtsenhoven wrote.

"During a heavy downpour, I happened to look out the window to watch the rain," Stevenson wrote. "I spotted this lovely pigeon resting, waiting for a break in the shower. I grabbed the camera to capture some shots, and as I did, it started stretching its neck and opening its mouth like it was trying to catch the rain drops. It was really sweet to watch, and I love how this image looks like it is mid-chorus."

"This image makes the seal look like the reclining Buddha statue," Chiu wrote.

"This polar-bear cub found this driftwood pretty amusing and was playing with it when it suddenly stopped and stood up, using it almost like a performer does at times," Khan wrote.

"The mob of kangaroos was enjoying some morning sunshine when this joey decided to get silly and try his hand at boxing," Mathews wrote.

"Mama owl had briefly left the palm-tree nest to get some rest from these hyperactive, soon-to-be fledglings," Schocken wrote. "They were flapping their wings and showing affection for each other. However, in this image, while one of them was extending a wing, it just looked like it was scolding its sibling."

"A Sulawesi-crested macaque reading the news," Rauvala captioned this photo.

"A little owl stares as only they can," Erwin wrote.

"An otter ballerina gracefully dances in an arabesque position," Kwek captioned this image. "I showed this photo to a ballet teacher, and she commented that the otter is a natural but just needs to tuck in its tummy a bit."

"You cannot fault this leopard's effort to get airborne," Goldstein wrote.

"A deer appeared in the distance and stood exactly in the middle of the road and started looking at me," Mondal wrote. "Suddenly, a macaque also came in the middle of the road and started itching while extending its hand out, which was hilarious."

"The lemur can't contain his emotions," Savvi wrote.

"This image is full of expressions and proper eye contact by both bears, hence it is a perfect frame of love and friendship," Vijayan wrote. "These magnificent creatures remind us that even the mightiest can embrace playfulness and connection."

"The swamp turtle is surprised and smiles at the dragonfly resting on its nose," Finkelstein wrote.

"This snowy owl landed outside my house as I was watching a movie," Maidens wrote. "I opened the window, popped a lens out, and took this image."

"An unusual end to a successful fishing moment," Ricci captioned this photo of a striated heron losing its balance.

"A white-winged dove appeared to fly head-on into a cholla cactus skeleton," Kaveney wrote.

"Gannets mate for life and they return to the same nest year after year to raise their young," Ashdown wrote. "I was able to observe the affection shown between the gannets each time one returned to the nest. I didn't realize I'd taken this image until I got home, but as soon as I saw it, I laughed out loud! They look like proud parents posing with their baby — definitely one for the family album!"