These Are The Hilarious Finalists Of The 2017 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

These two monkeys broke away from their group to ‘test drive’ a motorbike parked near the entrance to the reserve in Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve, Indonesia. Katy Laveck Foster / CWPA / Barcroft Images

In total, 40 finalists have been announced, ranging from a shocked elephant seal to a giraffe seemingly eating a plane. There’s also a gurning gorilla, and a hare standing to attention.

There were more than 3,500 entries for the awards from 86 countries. The winners will be announced on December 14.

The awards were founded by Tanzania-based photographers Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam. They hope the awards will put a spotlight on wildlife conservation efforts, while also bringing some playfulness to wildlife photography.

“Conservation was always at the heart of the competition, along with the fact that people seemed to enjoy images of animals doing entertaining things!” said Sullam in a statement.

“But essentially living in a country that has some of the best wildlife in the world – Tanzania – and seeing how destructive human actions can be to this wildlife, made us want to do our little bit to help.”

Here are 10 of our favorite finalists featured.