Though all nature’s creatures have their own dignity, they also have a capacity for dim-wittedness, clumsiness and all-round foolishness. For every proud and noble hound, nose lifted to the breeze, there will be a gawky, graceless mutt scooting across the rug. For every majestic stallion thundering impressively over the sand, there is a cantankerous nag pinning its ears to its skull as it snakes its head over the stable door. And these might be the very same animals, just moments apart.
For as long as there have been cameras, people have shared funny animal pictures. From black-and-white snaps of chimps in suits and dogs with pipes, through home videos and Animals Do the Funniest Things in the noughties, to the present, when finalists from the annual Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – well represented among this selection – routinely go viral, the appeal is evergreen. It bubbles up from the same well of comedy: a tension between an animal’s true nature and the human connotations they have unwittingly stumbled upon.
