Good comedy is all about timing, and for proof look no further than the photographs shortlisted for this year’s Comedy Wildlife Awards.
Slapstick and silly, they reveal a different side to nature, capturing fleeting shots of wildlife at funny and improbable moments. Like the gorilla dancing in the jungle (main picture), the gull emptying its bowels on a white-tailed eagle, the gurning bear, and the duck that looks like it’s smoking – all once-in-a-lifetime money shots that photographers could never plan for.
But there is a serious side to the “world’s funniest wildlife photography competition”. A tenth of the profits from this year’s competition go to the Whitley Fund for Nature, which over the last three decades has funnelled £24m to grassroots conservationists who are quietly “saving the world”.
