The winners of the 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards have been revealed, showcasing some of the year’s funniest and wildest images of the natural world. This year’s top prize was scooped by Jennifer Hadley for her photograph of a lion cub losing its grip on a tree trunk titled “Not so cat-like reflexes”. 

She captured this image in the Serengeti of Tanzania through a brief moment of luck (well, not for the lion) when a 3-month-old cub attempted to climb down from a tree.

“It was very late in the afternoon and so I had my aperture as open as possible to capture the most light possible with my shutter down lower than I would have liked but I figured with the cub walking around in the tree, I didn't really need the speed,” Jennifer said in a statement, speaking about her winning image.

“It didn't even occur to me that he would make a go of getting down by himself in the most un-cat-like fashion. I mean, how often do cats fall out of trees? The gasp that emanated from our vehicle was palatable. No one expected this to happen and of course, we were concerned for his safety but happily, as cats do, he righted himself just in time and landed on all fours and ran off with his siblings. A happy ending for a hapless kitty who didn't quite know how to get down from a tree”, she added.

Jennifer’s efforts will see her awarded a handmade trophy from Tanzania plus a safari trip to Kenya.

This year’s competition saw 5,000 entries from 85 different countries. On top of the grand prize, the awards also had five category winners, including the Underwater Category Award, the  Creatures of the Land category,  the Creatures of the Air Category, the Amazing Internet Portfolio Award, and the Think Tank Photo Junior Category.

There was also the Affinity Photo 2 People’s Choice Award voted for by the public, which was won by Jennifer yet again for another shot of two stroppy penguins entitled "Talk to the Fin”. 

You can check out a selection of the winning images, as well as some of the judge's highly commended images, below. You can also see last year’s competition winners right here.