While living in East Africa, wildlife photographer Paul Joynson-Hicks was going through his photographs one day and came across several images which made him laugh out loud.
From that morning of laughter was born the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards in Paul's tiny office on the slopes of Mount Meru in northern Tanzania.
'A funny animal photo is incredibly effective because there are no barriers to understanding or taboos that must be negotiated,' says the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards. 'To really understand animals and the issues that affect them, you need to empathise with them as fellow inhabitants of the same planet.'
Some of the finalists chosen from over 7,000 entries received for this year's Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.
Please click on the images for a better look.
An entry from India: The Greek Stylist by Gurumoorthy K.
Monday Morning by Andrew Mayes.
Axel Bocker with 'Don't worry. Be happy!
IMAGE: Anita Ross's 'Shhhh! I'm so hungover it hurts.'
Andy Parkinson's 'Leaning post'.
Sarosh Lodhi's 'Dancing Away to Glory'.
Rick Elieson's 'Cotton Eyed Joe'.
Patrick Dirlam's Did I say you could take my picture?'
Mattias Hammar's Welcome to Nature!'
Mr Giggles by Martina Novotna.
Lea Scaddan's 'Missed'.
Kevin Biskaborn's 'Quarantine Life'.
Chee Kee Teo's Time for school'.
'See who jumps high' by Chi Han Lin.
Jan Piecha with 'Chinese whispers'.
Brook Burling with 'Foot Jam'.
Siddhant Agrawal with 'Smoked Deer for Dinner'.
Dawn Wilson with 'Shaking Off 2020'.
Dikky Oesin with 'Yes, I did it'.
IMAGE: 'Laughing Snake' by Aditya Kshirsagar.
Like these 20?
There are more. There are in all 42 entries selected in the final list from 7000+ submissions.
Vote for your favourite comedy wildlife photograph before the results are announced on October 22.
Published with thanks to Michelle Woods, Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.
Photographs curated by Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com
