The overall winner of the 2025 Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards is British photographer Mark Meth-Cohn for his photograph titled “High Five,” which features a young gorilla throwing his leg and arm up in the air while flashing his teeth in the image in a forest in Rwanda.
The winning photo, taken in the Virunga Mountains, captures a young male gorilla from the Amahoro family group displaying “acrobatic flair, pirouetting, tumbling, and high kicking”.
According to The People, the photo “stood out among a record-breaking 10,000 entries from 109 countries — the highest number in the Awards’ illustrious eleven-year history.” The photo also claimed the mammals category award after impressing the judging panel. Speaking about the photo, Meth-Cohn said in a statement, “We spent four unforgettable days trekking through the misty Virunga Mountains in search of the gorilla families that call them home.”
“On this particular day, we came across a large family group known as the Amahoro family, they were gathered in a forest clearing where the adults were calmly foraging while the youngsters were enthusiastically playing,” he continued. “One young male was especially keen to show off his acrobatic flair, pirouetting, tumbling, and high kicking. Watching his performance was pure joy, and I’m thrilled to have captured his playful spirit in this image.” Several other playful photos also reached the top spot in other categories.
Maggie Hoffman’s photo of a chimpanzee picking her nose won the portfolio category, while teen Grayson Bell’s image of two frogs wrestling in the water grabbed him the reptile, amphibian and insect award, along with the junior category for those aged 16 and under. The 13-year-old, who is from the U.S., said the image was captured in a pond in the spring of 2023. “I took my camera and lay on my belly, watching them [the frogs] and taking shots,” Bell said. “It wasn’t until I got back to the house and looked at the pictures that I saw this one and realized how much I liked it. I showed it to my parents and they loved it too and it became one of my favorites. We all thought it looked like one frog was trying to baptize the other!”
Other shots that were mentioned as highly commended winners include Valtteri Mulkahainen’s image of a smiling bear and Meline Ellwanger’s photo of three yawning lions. Kalin Botev’s photo of a group of monkeys playing, titled ‘Monkey Circus,’ was also highly commended and was captured on the photographer’s honeymoon in Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, Lilian Luca’s hilarious photo of a what appeared to be a lemur licking its finger also earned a spot on the highly commended list.
The Italian photographer, who captured the moment in Madagascar, said the lemur was staring at him with “wide, curious eyes” and “then, with the grace of a stage actor and the timing of a comedian, he raised his hand, licked it thoughtfully, and then paused mid-gesture, as if he knew exactly what he was doing.” “Ultimately, this is why I love nature photography so much: sometimes nature’s sense of humor is better than our own; you just have to be ready to catch it,” the photographer added.
