Ever looked at a squirrel and thought, "Buddy, I've been there"?
Most nature documentaries want to show you the majestic, the terrifying, or the heartbreaking. They want the lion's roar and the eagle's swoop. But honestly, nature is mostly just animals being weird, clumsy, and accidentally hilarious. That's exactly why the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2024 exists. It’s the antithesis of the "seriousness" we usually associate with National Geographic.
People think these awards are just for a quick laugh. They aren't. While you’re giggling at a frog with a bubble on its head, you’re actually funding conservation efforts that keep these goofy creatures alive.
The "Stuck Squirrel" That Took Over the World
The big winner this year wasn't a massive elephant or a rare snow leopard. It was a red squirrel. Specifically, Milko Marchetti’s "Stuck Squirrel," taken in the Podere Pantaleone park in Italy.
The photo looks like a cartoon. It’s a squirrel attempting to enter a hollow tree, but its back legs are splayed out at right angles to the trunk. It looks utterly defeated. It looks like me trying to get into jeans after a holiday weekend. Marchetti, who has been doing this for 30 years and has a portfolio of over 1.5 million images, said the moment was over in a flash.
He was sitting in a hide waiting for birds. Then, this squirrel showed up.
A lot of people think these shots are staged. They aren't. In fact, the rules are incredibly strict about baiting or disturbing the animals. You have to be patient. You have to wait for that one-thousandth of a second where a squirrel forgets how to be a squirrel.
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Why We Can't Stop Laughing at "Mantis Flamenca"
One of the most shared images from the 2024 batch was Jose Miguel Gallego Molina’s "Mantis Flamenca." It’s a praying mantis that looks like it’s in the middle of a high-stakes flamenco dance.
Molina actually stopped his car on a roadside in Spain because he thought someone was ordering him to stop. It was just the mantis. He ended up lying on the ground with his camera while passing drivers looked at him like he was a complete lunatic. That’s the reality of wildlife photography. It’s 99% looking like a weirdo in the mud and 1% magic.
The 2024 Category Winners You Need to See
- Mammals & Overall Winner: Milko Marchetti, "Stuck Squirrel."
- Insects: Jose Miguel Gallego Molina, "Mantis Flamenca."
- Reptiles & Amphibians: Eberhard Ehmke, "Frog in a Balloon." (Imagine a frog that somehow got its head inside a bubble. It looks like a diver.)
- Birds: Damyan Petkov, "Whiskered Tern crash on landing." It’s exactly what it sounds like—a bird failing at the one thing it's supposed to be good at.
- People’s Choice: Tapani Linnanmäki, "Shake Ruffle Rattle and Roll." An eagle looking like it just stepped out of a wind tunnel.
It’s Not Just About the Jokes
The founders, Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam, started this back in 2015. They were professional photographers who realized that people were getting "conservation fatigue." If you show people a dying polar bear, they feel sad and tune out.
If you show them a penguin that looks like it’s telling its mate to "talk to the wing," they engage.
Anthropomorphism is a big word for a simple concept: we like animals more when they act like us. When we see "Smooching Owlets" (another 2024 winner by Sarthak Ranganadhan), we don’t just see birds. We see a family moment. We see two parents trying to get a second of privacy while their kid stands there with a goofy grin.
Basically, it makes us care. And caring leads to cash. The competition donates a chunk of its revenue to the Whitley Fund for Nature, supporting local conservationists across the Global South.
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The Mystery of the "Mafia Boss"
Then there’s Takashi Kubo’s "Mafia Boss." It’s a flying squirrel in Japan that looks like it’s sucking on a cigar. It’s not a cigar, obviously—just a piece of wood or food—but the posture is pure Al Capone.
People often ask: how do they find these?
Honestly, it’s mostly luck and a high frame rate. You don't set out to find a "Mafia Boss" squirrel. You set out to photograph squirrels and then, while reviewing 4,000 photos that evening, you realize one of them looks like it’s about to make you an offer you can’t refuse.
What Most People Get Wrong About Entering
If you think you need a $10,000 setup to win, you're wrong. Kingston Tam, an Australian photographer, won the Young Photographer Award (under 25) for his "Awkward Smiley Frog." It’s a close-up of an Eastern snapping frog that looks like it’s posing for a school photo it didn't want to take.
Sure, he used a decent macro lens, but the point is the character.
The judges—who include comedians like Hugh Dennis and wildlife experts like Kate Humble—aren't looking for the most technically perfect, high-resolution shot. They want the shot that makes them snort their coffee.
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How to Actually "See" a Funny Photo
- Look for the eyes. If the eyes look human-like or "expressive," you’ve got a winner.
- Wait for the "fail." Animals are surprisingly clumsy. Birds miss branches. Cheetahs trip.
- Check the background. Sometimes the funniest part of the photo is the animal in the back reacting to the animal in the front.
- Stay low. Getting on the same level as a frog or a lizard makes their "human" expressions much more obvious.
The 2024 Legacy
This year saw over 9,000 entries, the highest in the competition’s ten-year history. It proves we need this. The world is a heavy place, and seeing a raccoon "whispering a secret" to its mom (Jan Piecha’s "I’ll tell you a secret") is a necessary palate cleanser.
We often think of wildlife as "other." We think they are these robotic creatures driven only by instinct. But when you see a "Rock Star" lizard standing upright to beat the heat, looking like it’s about to drop the hottest album of the summer, you realize they’re just trying to get through the day, same as us.
Actionable Steps for Wildlife Lovers
If you want to support what the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2024 is doing, you don't have to be a pro photographer.
First, go look at the full gallery on their official site. It’s a better mood booster than any "productivity hack" you'll find on LinkedIn. Second, consider the conservation angle. The Whitley Fund for Nature does real work on the ground.
Finally, keep your eyes open. You don't need to be in the Masai Mara to see funny animals. Your local park has squirrels, pigeons, and crows that are just as ridiculous if you stop and watch them for more than ten seconds.
The next time you see a bird fly into a window or a dog trip over its own shadow, don't just laugh. Capture it. The 2025 entries open in March, and who knows? Your clumsy backyard squirrel might be the next global superstar.
To get started, check your camera settings for "burst mode" or "continuous shooting." You can't time a "stuck" moment; you have to catch it in a sequence. Set your shutter speed to at least 1/1000th of a second to freeze the action, even if it's just a squirrel’s legs flailing. Then, just sit still and wait for the comedy to happen.