It’s all there in black and white – zebras, like us, love a laugh.
And judging by the entertainment value in these pictures the rest of the animal kingdom can be funny too.
They are all in the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards book, backed by the Born Free Foundation charity. The winners will be announced next month.
There is the shrill kerfuffle among European bee-eater birds in Croatia and a Richmond Park red deer wearing bracken in London.
A damselfly in the Norfolk Broads seems to wave and a Lincolnshire grey seal looks like he’s having a belly laugh.
In Antarctica a seal and penguin square up, and a common jack is chased by a shark in the Bahamas.
A bashful brown bear hides behind a tree in Finland as an Alaskan cousin covers his eyes after a meal.
But think of the white bird covered by rhino wee. Egrets, he’s had a few, then again too few to mention.
Working alongside international wildlife charity The Born Free Foundation, the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards hopes to share with the public the true playfulness of the animal kingdom.
However, there is a serious message behind the competition – to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the environment for the world’s creatures.
The organisers of the now annual competition say it was “the result of two factors: Firstly, a need for a photography competition that was light hearted, upbeat, possibly unpretentious and mainly about wildlife doing funny things. Four years on and these objectives seem to have been met. Secondly, and way more importantly, this competition is about conservation.”
They add: “None of us are perfect, all of us at some point will fly somewhere, drive somewhere, cook something, burn something and probably provide some direct input into the general warming of the globe.
“Indirectly, we will also have some impact on the animals that share this planet with us. So the end result?
“By entering this competition it gives both Paul and Tom and the rest of you talented photographers a chance to do a little bit for conservation.
“How? Well… you are now obviously going to go to your office, home, pub, club or wherever and talk about the dire need for us all to be conservationists in our own little way.
“Also, perhaps you will go to Born Free’s website and have a look at the work they do and spread that word as well.
