From a squirrel’s bad hair day to a couple of gossiping leopards, the world’s most hilarious animals are being celebrated once again at the 2025 Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards. The annual contest invites photographers from around the globe to enter their funniest wildlife photos.

This year, 40 finalists were chosen from 10,000 photos that were submitted by photographers in 108 countries. There’s a lemur licking its fingers after a tasty meal, two monitor lizards that look like they’re hugging but might be fighting, and a gannet (a type of bird) with its head caught in some grass. Most animals probably don’t realize they’re being funny—except maybe the young gorilla in Rwanda that started dancing while his family was foraging for food. Intentional or not, all the finalists are guaranteed to bring the laughs.

Each finalist has been placed in one of several categories. There are categories for mammals, birds, and so on. There is also a category for photographers age 16 and one for photographers age 25 or under. These two categories give entrants the chance to win a new camera. In addition, judges will choose an overall winner to receive the ultimate prize—a wildlife safari in the African nation of Kenya! Winners will be announced on December 9, 2025.

The Comedy Wildlife Awards began in 2015, after photographer Paul Joynson-Hicks realized that wildlife photography could draw attention to the need for conservation. (Conservation is the protection of the environment, including animals and their habitats.) Since then, the contest has used entertainment to highlight the importance of conservation.

To get the public more involved in the cause, all contest finalists will be entered into the People’s Choice competition so that voters can choose a favorite. Online voting will be open between December 2025 and March 2026.