Top of the hops: Air guitaring kangaroo plays its way to victory in Comedy Wildlife photography awards that featured a reclining monkey, a dancing otter and a puffed-up grouse

• The award-winning photo depicts a young kangaroo in a rocker’s pose
• It was taken by Australian Jason Moore, and beat out 5,300 international entries
• More than 1,800 people put their hats in the ring to take home the top prize 

A photograph of an air guitar-strumming kangaroo has won this year’s Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards. 

The photo, taken by Jason Moore, from Perth, Australia, and titled ‘Air Guitar Roo’, depicts a young kangaroo in a field of wildflowers in a rocker’s pose. 

The photo beat 5,300 entries from 1,842 contestants, hailing from 85 countries, the competition’s organisers said. 

Jason said that he only managed to take the award-winning photograph after getting up before sunrise one morning to take photos of some waterfowl during the early morning ‘golden hour’.

‘It turned out to be a disappointing morning on the water,’ he said. 

‘However, when I saw this Roo striking the air guitar pose, it immediately brought a smile to my face, and I knew that I had captured something really special,’ Jason added. 

Jason said of his award-winning photograph: ‘When I saw this Roo striking the air guitar pose, it immediately brought a smile to my face, and I knew that I had captured something really special’

Otter Ballerinas by Otter Kwek from Singapore: ‘An arabesque smooth coated otter’

The Rainforest Dandy by Delphine Casimir from Brussels, Belgium: ‘This picture was taken in the monkey forest in Ubud, Bali. This place is a crazy place where monkeys are king! Sometimes they give a show, sometimes they climb on you to look for fleas or steal the piece of biscuit you are trying to eat’

Snowball! by Jacques Poulard from Craponne, France: ‘A grouse is coming to me in a very cold winter’

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Jason’s photograph beat out entries including a dancing otter gracefully posing amid lush greenery, a relaxed monkey spotted in Bali and a furious looking grouse pictured in the dead of winter. 

The organisers handed out several more awards to contestants from across the world. 

Photographer Jacek Stankiewicz picked up both the Junior Award and the Affinity Photo People’s Choice Award, for his photograph titled ‘Dispute’.

The photo depicts several greenfinches standing on a branch, with one of them pointing off to the right with its beak open, as if it were arguing with the other birds. 

Stankiewicz from Kraków, Poland, said of his snap: ‘I caught this scene while watching birds in the Bialowieza Forest. 

‘My friends interpret this scene in two ways: A young naughty kid is arguing with a parent. Or one kid is reporting to the parent that its brother did something wrong: “Look he has broken the glass in the window”.’ 

Unexpected plunge by Vittorio Ricci from Genova, Italy: ‘An unusual and almost miserable end of a perfect moment, previously prepared, for a successful fishing’

Dispute by Jacek Stankiewicz from Kraków, Poland: ‘I caught this scene while watching birds in the Bialowieza Forest. Young greenfinch was still fed by parents. However, from time to time birds looked like having argument. My friends interpret this scene in two ways: A young naughty kid is arguing with a parent. Or one kid is reporting to the parent that its brother did something wrong: “Look he has broken the glass in the window”‘

I finally learned to fly… or not?! by Tãmea Ambrus from Budapest, Hungary: ‘The ground squirrel jumped as if he could fly. Unfortunately he has no wings. To his surprise he fell back to the ground’

Vittorio Ricci won the Creatures of the Air Award for his photograph of a heron seemingly falling into water. 

Otter Kwek, from Singapore, won the Under Water Award for his photo of an otter that appears to be dancing, while Tãmea Ambrus, from Budapest, won the Portfolio Award for a series of snaps of a squirrel that looks like it is trying to fly. 

The Video Award, meanwhile, went to Lily Bernau for herfilm of a penguin seemingly refusing to go into the sea called ‘Too Cold.’

Open for free to both amateur and professional photographers, the competition celebrates the sheer hilarity of the natural world while highlighting the need to protect this incredible wildlife.

The contest was founded by Paul Joynson-Hicks MBE and Tom Sullam in 2015, and has grown to become a globally-renowned competition with images seen by millions every year.

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