While we’re used to celebrating the majesty of the natural world by displaying images of such searing depth and beauty, sometimes you just like a chuckle at a gorilla giving the middle finger or a hippo going wild at a bunch of swarming birds.
And now there are prizes for that, with the inaugural Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards ready to dole out the top gongs for the silliest photos.
Judges has to rifle through more than 1,500 entries from 52 countries to come up with the finalists, featured in the gallery below.
"I can’t believe the incredible amount of entries we have achieved in our first year and from so many different countries, it’s very exciting indeed," says Paul Joynson-Hicks, the founder and a wildlife photographer himself.
"Judging was incredibly hard as we had a lot of hilarious images to try and whittle down to the final 45. I think people have really enjoyed this competition, something a little bit different. It definitely exceeds our expectations for our inaugural year."
The rules dictate that all of the photos had to have been taken in the wild, meaning no domestic animals nor animals that live in zoos or other captive environments could be entered.
The next stage of judging will happen later this month, with the winners due to be announced on November 11th.
Prizes include photographic safaris in southern Tanzania and Nikon cameras.
