These are officially the funniest animal pictures of 2023
Andy Wells
Jason Moore’s ‘Air-Guitar Roo’, showing a kangaroo rocking out in Australia, was named the overall winner of the Comedy Wildlife Photographers Awards. (Jason Moore/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
A kangaroo flexing its musical muscles in its best rock star pose has taken the crown as the funniest animal picture of 2023.
There were 5,300 entries submitted to the Comedy Wildlife Photographers Awards this year, from 1,842 hopefuls across 85 countries.
And while there was no shortage of animals that brought a smile to the judges’ faces, it was Jason Moore’s shot that bagged the overall winner prize.
His Air Guitar Roo photo shows the female western grey kangaroo appearing to play air guitar while Moore visited a fields in Perth, Australia.
And Moore only captured the picture of a disappointing morning in August 2021 taking snaps of waterfowl at a nearby lake.
He revealed: “I ended up shooting about 40 or 50 frames of the kangaroos with various content including mums, joeys and also some action shots of them bouncing along through the yellow field…
“When I saw this roo striking the air guitar pose, it immediately brought a smile to my face, and I knew that I had captured something really special.”
Clearly the judges agreed and the photo not only won the overall winner prize, but also topped the ‘creatures of the land’ category.
Other pictures that brought a laugh to the judges include a heron falling out of the sky into the water, a squirrel looking like it is trying to fly and an otter appearing to strike a perfect ballerina pose.
Check out the photos that tickled the judges in 2023 below…
An otter ballerina gracefully dances in an Arabesque position while attempting to grasp overhanging leaves in Singapore in Otter Kwek‘s Otter Ballerina. (Otter Kwek/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
Unexpected Plunge: Vittorio Ricci snapped an unusual and almost miserable end for this heron as he it went for a spot of fishing in South Africa. (Vittorio Ricci/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
A young greenfinch appears to be told off but its parents in this fiery argument titled Dispute, captured by Jacek Stankiewicz in Poland.(Jacek Stankiewicz/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
Don’t look down: A puffin does an inverted Snoopy impression while watching jellyfish in Northumberland, courtesy of Brian Matthews. (Brian Matthews/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
Excuse me sir but I think you're a little too young to be smoking: A tired grey fox with a piece of wood looks more like he is smoking a cigar in Virginia in the US. (Dakota Vaccaro/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
This monkey strikes a pose and puts on a show in The Rainforest Dandy, captured in Bali. (Delphine Casimir/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
Snowball by Jacques Poulard shows a white grouse looking like a giant, walking snowball with eyes. (Jacques Poulard/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
This great gray owl in Grand Teton National Park, USA, takes a break from looking wise to look more like he is having a case of the Monday Blues in John Blumenkamp‘s Monday Blahs. (John Blumenkamp/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
Boing: Taken at Westerfolds Park in Australia, a joey decides to get silly and try his hand at boxing. (Lara Mathews/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
In Keoladeo National Park, India, a Macaque comes into the middle of the road and appears to signal the direction to go. (Pratick Mondal/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
A swamp turtle is surprised and smiles gleefully at the dragonfly taking a rest on its nose in Israel. (Tzahi-Finkelstein/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
That wasn’t here yesterday: A white-winged dove appearing to fly head-on into a cholla cactus skeleton in Arizona, USA. (Wendy Kaveney/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
At RSPB Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire a pair of gannets show affection to each other as they tower over their young. (Zoe Ashdown/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
A ground squirrel comes to a crashing flop after jumping high as if trying to fly in Austria. (Tímea Ambrus/Comedy Wildlife 2023)
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