A snow-covered raccoon smiles at the camera and waves.

Typically photos of the natural world fall into the take-your-breath-away category (see the Wildlife Photography Awards), but it doesn’t have to be this way.

Like humans, animals are also capable of being extremely ridiculous, and it’s only right that we celebrate this side of them in the same way that we celebrate them when they’re looking cool.

Enter the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, founded in 2015 by photographers Tom Sullam and Paul Joynson-Hicks, and in conjunction this year with UK charity the Whitely Fund for Nature, which celebrates nature’s wackier side.

40 images have been shortlisted in total, with the winners due to be announced on Dec. 8. You can view the entire gallery on awards’ site, and we’ve included a taster below…

A squirrel leaping through the air stares directly at the camera.
Credit: Alex Pansier/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2022

A baby duck uses turtles lined up across a river as stepping stones.
Credit: Ryan Sims/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2022

A raccoon stands in the snow smiling and waving.
Credit: Miroslav Srb/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2022

A turkey stands next to an ice box with its beak stretched wide in what looks like a grin.
Credit: Lincoln Macgregor/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2022

A baby bear sniffs a flower.
Credit: Valtteri Mulkahainen/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2022

A hippo with its mouth wide open surfaces in the water next to a long-legged bird.
Credit: Jacques Alcalay/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2022

A moose pulls back its lips in a grin.
Credit: Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2022

A large bird stands behind a cow with its wings spread, making it look like the cow has wings.
Credit: Jagdeep Rajput/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2022

A monkey perched in a tree has its mouth open in apparent shock.
Credit: Andy Evans/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2022

A fish flies out of the water and hits a shocked bear in the head.
Credit: John Chaney/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2022

Glorious.