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Take a look at the winners of the 2018 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

A shocked looking squirrel and a nosy owl were among the winning images.

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A shocked looking squirrel

A picture of a shocked looking squirrel has been declared the funniest animal picture of the year.

The image, called Caught In The Act, was taken by Mary McGowan and was on Friday named the overall winner at the 2018 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.

The winner was chosen from thousands of entries which were whittled down to 41 finalists, with awards dished out in eight categories.

McGowan’s squirrel photo took home the overall prize as well as the Affinity People’s Choice Award and the Alex Walker’s Serian Creatures Of The Land Award.

An owl peeking over a hill
(Shane Keena/www.comedywildlifephoto.com)

Elsewhere, the Creatures Of The Air award went to Shane Keena for his image of an owl peeking over a hill.

And that wasn’t the only owl to feature among the winners – the Junior award went to Arshdeep Singh for his image of an owl going to the toilet off the side of a wall.

An owl doing its business
(Arshdeep Singh/www.comedywildlifephoto.com)

The Creatures Of The Sea category was won by Tanya Houppermans and her picture of a grinning shark, taken while she was snorkelling off Rhode Island in the United States.

A grinning blue shark
(Tanya Houppermans/www.comedywildlifephoto.com)

Among the other finalists were a bear doing a facepalm, a rhino stood in front of a peacock and a polar bear inspecting a camera.

A bear doing a facepalm
(Danielle D’Ermo/www.comedywildlifephoto.com)
A rhino and a well placed peacock
(Kallol Mukherjee/www.comedywildlifephoto.com)
A polar bear inspecting a camera
(Roie Galitz/www.comedywildlifephoto.com)

As the overall victor, McGowan wins a safari to Kenya as well a handmade trophy and various other goodies.

The annual competition, founded by wildlife photographers and enthusiasts Tom Sullam and Paul Joynson-Hicks, aims to promote wildlife conservation in a lighthearted way.

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