The funny animal photos you need to see

Now which direction is my nest? By Alison Tuck

Some of the funniest photos of animals have been shortlisted as part of the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards.

The finalists of the 2025 competition, capturing some of the most ridiculous things animals get up to, have been released.

People send in their photos and a panel of judges pick their favourite.

This year a record number of just under 10,000 entries from 108 countries were submitted.

The shortlisted photos include breakdancing foxes, a gossiping leopard and an elephant playing peek-a-boo.

Most of them relied on incredible timing from the photographers, like the above photo from Alison Tuck.

On a windy day on Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire she managed to capture the exact moment a load of grass and weeds flew straight into the unfortunate gannet's face.

Unlucky for the gannet, but great for Alison!

Shoulder of giants by Andrew Mortimer

In Australia, photographer Andrew Mortimer caught this frog getting a bit of a lift from a mate to see over the side of a piece of PVC casing.

Fonzie's advertising by Liliana Luca

This crowned sifaka was photographed by Liliana Luca from Italy.

The lemur looked at her and then proceeded to lick his fingers reminding Liliana of a particular advert in Italy for some Fonzies crisps.

"Ultimately, this is why I love nature photography so much: sometimes nature's sense of humour is better than our own; you just have to be ready to catch it," she said.

Badmouthing by Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod

One of the two leopards in this photo, taken by Sri Lankan photographer Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod, near Columbo appears to be gossiping! We wonder what they are saying.

Peek-a-boo by Harry Szwinto

This Sri Lankan Elephant was photographed looking just like it was in the middle of a game of peek-a-boo.

Hornbill in a hurry by Geoff Martin

This looks just like Zazu from the Lion King going somewhere in a hurry, in fact this southern yellow billed hornbill seemed to be escaping a hawk which may have had its eye on it.

Photographer Geoff Martin says thankfully the hornbill escaped unscathed.

Hit the dancefloor - Paula Rustemeier. (Germany)

These three foxes were captured by Paula Rustemeier at a nature reserve.

They look just like they are breakdancing, but photographer Paula spent a long time gaining their trust to get the photo.

"You really have to giggle a lot watching foxes play with their quirky personalities," she said.

The Choir by Meline Ellwanger

These three lionesses were snapped all yawning at the same time, but it looks just like they are mid-song.

Not sure about joining that choir! Could end up a mis-steak!