Critter Chaos: Record-Breaking 10,000 Animals Compete to Lose Their Dignity

The Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards reached a major milestone for its 2026 competition, receiving more than 10,000 entries for the first time in its history. 

A decade after its founding, the record-breaking pool of submissions brought in hilarious animal shenanigans from photographers across 112 countries. The competition has narrowed the field down to a shortlist of finalists – including 40 individual entries, 3 under-16 entries, 4 portfolios, and 9 videos – all competing for the grand prize of an African safari in Kenya's Masai Mara. 

The overall winner, category winners and Highly Commended entries will be announced at an awards ceremony in London, UK on December 08, 2026. 

Alongside the awards, a free exhibition showing the work of the finalists will take place at Gallery@Oxo in the city from December 09–13. A related exhibition of past Comedy Wildlife award winners is also currently on at Frameless running until January 2027.

Co-founders Tom Sullam and Paul Joynson-Hicks noted that hitting this milestone proves how powerful humor can be in driving empathy and awareness for global wildlife conservation. 

I'm not going to feature the shortlisted photos that capture nature's lighter side – only the nine that have really caught my attention: 

Sexy Mantis

Location: Camanti in the Quispicanchi Province of the Cusco Region in southeastern Peru

Photographer description: A tiny green mantis peeks over a leaf during a night walk in an area of Cusco, Peru, that is still waiting to be protected. 

At first, the mantis seems to be sunbathing, or perhaps striking a rather glamorous pose. But there is also a small visual trick: half of the insect is hidden behind the leaf. Its hind legs disappear from view and, suddenly, its enormous forelegs begin to look almost like a pair of human legs. 

Elvis

Location: Pantanal, Brazil

Photographer description: This caiman emerged from the water in an area with a lot of floating vegetation, and part of it remained on its head. It resembles a 1950s rock and roll hairstyle.

The DNA Doesn't Lie

Location: Borneo jungle 

Photographer description: A wild orangutan in the rainforests of Borneo appears to deliver a perfectly timed gesture toward the camera. As he finishes a meal with one finger extended, it creates the unmistakable impression that he is flipping off the lens. 

Though entirely coincidental, the moment captures an almost unsettling reflection of ourselves in one of our closest relatives.

Nectar and Chill: Inside a Sunbird’s Five-Star Spa

Location: Vietnam 

Photographer description: On a gentle sunlit afternoon, a little sunbird excitedly set off for a five-star spa deep in the forest. From afar, he spotted a “natural bathtub” – a bright red banana blossom, filled with cool water and plenty of sweet nectar. He landed on the blossom and savored the sweet nectar. After his treat, he hopped into the “tub” and began enjoying the refreshing, cool water.

Did I Sleep Past My Alarm?

Location: Curaçao, part of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea

Photographer description: Behind the comical face is a story of extreme underwater patience. This blenny in Curaçao was hidden inside a tiny, camouflaged tube on the reef, and it opened its mouth to feed for a split second. To transform this moment into a highly precise wildlife encounter, it took multiple targeted dives. 

Exact timing was crucial to catch the fish’s sharp expression within its natural environment, showing that the smallest ocean residents often have the biggest personalities.

Chameleon Smash!

Location: Senegal 

Photographer description: This Senegal chameleon looked less like a reptile and more like a tiny green action hero in this shot. 

The Morning Wave 

Location: Stoke-on-Trent, UK 

Photographer description: This sleepy damselfly had slowly climbed a blade of grass, so I gently placed it on a leaf for one last portrait. Instead of posing politely, it disappeared behind the leaf, popped its head through a readymade window, and as I pressed the shutter ... gave me a cheerful wave. Clearly, someone wanted the last laugh!

Doris Digs the Floral Look

Location: Lake Kumana, inside Kumana National Park on the southeastern coast of Sri Lanka

Photographer description: An Asian water buffalo surfaces from Lake Kumana, Sri Lanka, wearing a bonnet of flowers.

"When this water buffalo lifted her head up, it looked like she had a fancy bonnet on so we called her Doris!" 

Hair Check Before the Family Photo

Location: Namibia

Subject: Three meerkats posing together, with one meerkat giving a last-minute grooming inspection to the others.

Shredding for the Salmon Run

Location: Alaska, USA

Subject: A female brown bear was captured appearing to do her morning exercises around Lake Clark in Alaska, US. Her workout routine included some bicycle kicks as she appeared to get herself ready for the summer season.  

500 Tortoises Transform the Sahara

A conservation story is giving people a rare dose of hope about the Sahara. 

Five hundred tortoises were released into a severely degraded part of the desert, and within five years, satellite imagery showed green patches in areas that had been mostly sand. 

The story centers on African spurred tortoises, a native species also known as Centrochelys sulcata, as reported by the Indian Defence Review on May 25, 2026. In 2021, researchers placed 500 of them in a degraded area on the Sahara's southern fringe, where baked, crusted soil had prevented rain from soaking in, leaving seeds with almost no chance to sprout. 

"The tortoises did not plant anything", IDR said. "They dug". 

These large reptiles burrow deep underground to escape brutal daytime heat and cold desert nights. Their digging breaks up the hard surface crust, creating channels for rainwater to enter the soil instead of running off the surface. 

That small physical change appears to have set off a chain reaction. The shift helped moisture remain underground, gave dormant seeds a chance to sprout, and later appeared from space as scattered green growth near the tortoises' activity. 

In a region where land degradation threatens food security, grazing, and rural livelihoods, healthier soil can make a real difference for nearby communities. 

The tortoises are what ecologists call "ecosystem engineers," species that physically alter their surroundings in ways that help other life. Once burrows loosen the soil, insects and microorganisms move in, plants begin to take hold, and birds and small animals can follow. 

Conservation and climate resilience often go hand in hand. Protecting native wildlife can help landscapes retain water, reduce erosion, and recover naturally, much like other nature-based solutions in rewilding projects and low-tech land restoration efforts in dry regions. 

Researchers and conservation groups are excited, but also cautious. 

"The Plight of Reptiles as Ecological Actors in the Tropics", Everton BP de Miranda (left), in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, December 15, 2017, Vol. 5, described the African spurred tortoise as a species with "great ecosystem engineering potential", while IUCN reports have shown high survival rates for some reintroduced groups in Senegal, according to IDR. 

Despite the encouraging results, experts stress that this is "neither a magic bullet nor a universal solution". Rainfall, grazing pressure, and ongoing land management still matter. The same tortoise that helps damaged land is also endangered, with habitat loss, climate stress, hunting, and the pet trade driving declines across its range.

FIFA Say World Cup Too Big to Derail

The FIFA World Cup has historically been an event that brings together fans from across the world. The United States, Canada and Mexico are the hosts for the 2026 edition.

The tournament will take place from June 11 to July 19. The matches are spread across sixteen cities – eleven in the US, three in Mexico, and two in Canada. And the first to have 48 teams, an enlargement of sixteen teams compared to the previous seven tournaments. 

The total number of games played will expand from 64 to 104, and the number of games played by teams reaching the final four will increase from seven to eight. 

With less than 90 days until kickoff, issues are aplenty.

On January 01, the US expanded its visa-issuance suspensions to nationals from 39 countries, citing national security and public safety concerns and saying the identified countries could not properly vet their citizens. Four of the countries on the banned list – Haiti, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Iran – have qualified for the World Cup.

Many fans rely on tourist visas, and ICE are expected to be responsible for security at the World Cup. And ICE’s director has refused to commit to pausing the agency’s operations during the tournament. Human rights groups have raised concerns over whether World Cup visitors will be detained and handed to ICE if they engage in actions deemed critical of the US government.

And this Truth Social post by Donald Trump on March 12 is disturbing:

Trump later posted another message on his social media platform to emphasise that the event would be safe for players and spectators from around the world. 😆😆😆

Indeed, the World Cup is facing unprecedented uncertainty stemming from geopolitical crises, security concerns, and financial challenges.

That's not all. FIFA have set the highest ticket prices ever for a World Cup, leading to outrage among fans. 

And the use of dynamic pricing saw ticket costs for the final rise to nearly $8,700, potentially pricing out supporters.

Despite these issues, FIFA officials have maintained that the 2026 tournament – set to be the largest ever with 48 teams – is "too big" to derail and is expected to proceed as planned.

Ukraine Linked to Tuareg Terror Attack

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ukraine is at the center of a diplomatic storm in Africa after its officials appeared to back a recent rebel attack in Mali, which has been plagued by jihadist insurgencies for more than a decade.

 

Tuareg insurgents ambushed a military convoy carrying members of the Russian Wagner Group private military company and Malian soldiers late in July in the village of Tinzaouaten, located in the north of Mali, killing dozens. 

 

Ukrainian military intelligence service (GUR) spokesperson Andrey Yusov (right), speaking on national TV, called the incident a “successful military operation against Russian war criminals” carried out with the “necessary information” provided to the militants by his agents. He vowed that “there will be more to come”. 

 

Kiev’s embassy in Dakar, Senegal shared Yusov’s interview – now deleted – on their Facebook page, along with a caption from their ambassador Yury Pivovarov to Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, and Liberia, who said “there will certainly be other results”.

 

Bamako and its West African neighbors have denounced the remarks as Ukraine’s support for “international terrorism”. Even the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional bloc that Mali’s military government and their allies in Burkina Faso and Niger quit in January, have said they will not tolerate “any foreign interference” that threatens the region’s peace and security. 

 

Senegal and Burkina Faso issued separate statements on Saturday, warning Ukraine against actions aimed at destabilizing their “brotherly” neighbor Mali. Ouagadougou advised Kiev not to “fight the wrong battle and should refrain from any support” for terrorists involved in the ongoing violence in Mali, which has spread to Burkina Faso and Niger.

 

Niger responded on Tuesday by breaking off diplomatic ties with Ukraine with “immediate effect” in “total solidarity with the government and people of Mali”. Mali had earlier taken a similar decision, claiming Kiev’s actions threatened Bamako’s sovereignty.

 

In an interview with RIA Novosti on Wednesday, Fousseinou Ouattara, deputy chairperson of Bamako’s parliamentary security and defense committee, said Mali and Niger have asked the UN Security Council to investigate allegations that Ukraine provided intelligence to the Tuareg rebels. 

 

Ouattara reportedly questioned Ukraine’s ability to act alone in providing intelligence to armed groups, hinting that Kiev’s Western allies, including the US and France, could have assisted.

 

On the same day too, Russia accused Ukraine of encouraging terrorist groups in African countries friendly to Moscow.

Boeing's Woes Refuse To Go Away

Boeing's woes simply refuse to go away!

In Senegal, a chartered Air Senegal Boeing B737-300 plane skidded off a runway before takeoff early on Thursday at Blaise Diagne International Airport in the capital, Dakar.

Eight-five people – including two pilots and four cabin crew – were on board the flight operated by TransAir and bound for the Malian capital Bamako. At least 10 people were injured, the transport ministry said. 

The photo above showed the damaged plane at a standstill in a grassy field with a damaged wing, its emergency exit slides deployed. 

Videos shared on social media appeared to show a left wing on fire. 

The aircraft was later cordoned off with red and white tape, the Reuters news agency reported.

In Türkiye, 190 people – including six crew members – were safely evacuated from a Boeing 737-800 belonging to Corendon Airlines after one of the aircraft’s tyres burst on Thursday during landing at Gazipasa, an airport near the Mediterranean coastal town of Alanya.

Corendon Airlines denied Turkish media reports that the aircraft, which had arrived from Cologne, Germany, had landed on its nose. Türkiye’s Ministry for Transport and Infrastructure had reported damage to the plane’s nose landing gear.

Flights were diverted to nearby Antalya airport while the aircraft was removed, the ministry said.

A Boeing 767 cargo plane had reportedly landed at Istanbul Airport, also in Türkiye without its front landing gear.

 

A video on social media showed the aircraft belonging to FedEx Express using the back landing gear and then dipping its nose with the front portion of the fuselage. 

 

The plane was on the last leg of its flight from Paris, France to Istanbul when the pilots realized the front landing gear failed to open, state-run news agency Anadolu said. 

 

There were no casualties and authorities had launched an investigation, the Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday. It was not clear why the failure occurred.

 

A day earlier, an Air France plane – a Boeing 787 – was stranded in Canada's deep north following an emergency landing. 

 

About six hours into what should have been a nine-and-a-half-hour flight to Seattle in Washington, USA from Paris, a burning smell and smoke were detected onboard, including the cockpit. Pilots quickly resorted to their oxygen masks and prepared for an emergency landing at the nearest available airport, which happened to be in Iqaluit, per Business Insider. 

 

The remote town in Nunavut territory, which has a total population of less than 8,000, is often known as Canada's Arctic capital. The airline launched a rescue operation after the passengers were left stranded in the isolated region.

 

Manufacturers are not typically involved in the operation or maintenance of jets once they enter service, but Boeing have been under intense media and regulatory scrutiny following a very long series of incidents involving their planes. Like it or not, we cannot dismiss the fact that these are Boeing planes and the issues besetting them are neverending!

Israelis Rally for Peace in Tel Aviv

Israelis come out and rally for peace in Tel Aviv, Israel:

 

Not all Israelis are Zionists.

Protests and solidarity marches have been held in London, UK and cities across the world since the start of the Israel-Palestine conflict two months ago. And they are still ongoing.

But in the United States, speaking freely about Israel’s war on Gaza often has a price. 

 

For expressing their opinions on the Israel-Palestine, many Muslim Americans and Arab Americans have paid a hefty price, including the loss of jobs and suspension from college/university. 

 

Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza on October 07, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) have received double the usual amount of reports of bias and requests for help, according to the executive director, Nihad Awad. 

 

And Awad warns that as the Israeli narrative continues “falling apart”, more attempts to dehumanise the Palestinian people will be seen.

A Feisty Tiger in KL

It’s the Year of the Tiger, so don’t be too surprised to see a tiger ready to pounce on you just outside of Pavilion Elite, Kuala Lumpur. 

Well, it’s all thanks to Samsung‘s “Tiger In The City” campaign to help get ready for Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2022. And KLites would be happy to know their city is amongst five cities in the world chosen to showcase the ad. 

Besides Kuala Lumpur, the other four cities to showcase the billboard of the tiger are New York, London, Dubai, and Seoul.

The ad shows a 3D tiger bursting through digital barriers – and Samsung says that it aims to showcase how “Samsung’s next smartphone line-up is set to help users own the night with new advancements to its low-light smartphone photography technology”.

 

The tiger billboard ad in Pavilion isn’t the first 3D ad to wow Malaysians. Last year, there was a golden bull billboard ad to celebrate Chinese New Year. 

If you’d like to see the 3D billboard for yourself, you can go to the said mall from now until February 09. The golden bull ad did pull quite a crowd, so this one might be a popular attraction as well. 

Sadio Mane scored the winning spot-kick – after missing one in the opening minutes of the game – as Senegal claimed their first Africa Cup of Nations title with a 4-2 penalty shoot-out victory over seven-time winners Egypt. 

Mane stepped up to make history for the West African nation on Sunday at the Olembe Stadium in Cameroon’s Yaounde, and banished the memories of the team’s 2019 failure when they lost the final to Algeria. 

Goalkeeper Edouard Mendy saved from Egypt’s Mohanad Lasheen in the shoot-out to allow Mane the chance to seal the win and gain just reward for Senegal, who had been by far the better side in the final but spurned numerous opportunities to win the game. 

Egypt had their goalkeeper Mohamed Abo Gabal to thank for getting them into the shoot-out as he was outstanding in keeping Senegal at bay in what was the fourth time in as many games they had played extra time in energy-sapping conditions.

Anyway, congratulations, Senegal!

$105 Million Ticket Sales on First Day

On Friday, I had blogged about the good pre-sales recorded by the war epic "The Battle at Lake Changjin 2: Watergate Bridge”. 

The movie has lived up to its blockbuster billing with a box office haul touching $105 million on Tuesday, the first day of the Chinese New Year and its opening day in mainland Chinese theaters. 

It is even speculated that the 149-minute cinematic production could eventually become the highest-grossing film of all time in China. To do that, it would have to surpass “The Battle at Lake Changjin” which was released on October 01, 2021 and, over a prolonged run in cinemas, earned $913 million (according to a Variety report dated January 31, 2022) to become the second biggest film worldwide in 2021, behind “Spider-Man: No Way Home”. 

Despite the short interval between the two outings, there is a growing belief that the sequel can outperform its predecessor.

Covid restrictions, travel patterns during this Spring Festival period and competition for eyeballs from the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics starting today, are the limiting factors, rather than other movies. 

Already, audience feedback, channeled through Taopiaopiao ticketing firm, rated the film 9.6 out of ten. Maoyan reported an identical score with 21,000 users expressing an opinion.

On Thursday, a goalless draw between Egypt and hosts Cameroon saw the former win 3-1 on penalties to set up an Africa Cup of Nations final against Senegal. A day earlier, Senegal had ousted Burkina Faso to earn the right to meet Egypt. 

Sunday's final sets up a tantalising meeting between Liverpool forwards Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane at the same venue – the Olembe Stadium in Cameroon's capital Yaounde

In fact, the final will be the first of three meetings between Egypt and Senegal over the next two months as they also contest a two-legged play-off for a place at the World Cup in Qatar.

Africa-bound Covid Vaccines a Wasteful Exercise

Africa is not doing well insofar as Covid vaccination goes. 

And that’s because its countries are facing "vaccine nationalism" from the West. These wealthy countries stockpiled excess vaccines and only "donated" them to African countries when they were about to expire, for political show. It would seem that they ignored the fact that Africa may lack primary care services and vaccine storage conditions, and as a result, may cause vaccines to be of limited use. 

On December 22, 2021, the Nigerian government destroyed more than 1.06 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine. According to media reports, these vaccines were part of the more than 2.59 million doses Nigeria received from Europe in October 2021, and had expired in November! 

The disposal of these vaccines followed reports that vaccines received from Europe through the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access program (COVAX) arrived in Nigeria with only four to six weeks of viability remaining, making them unusable for the timely inoculation of its citizens. In fact, many low- and middle-income countries have experienced similar situations. 

The Nigerian MOH called on vaccine donors to send vaccines as early as possible so that recipient countries are able to receive the vaccine with a longer shelf life to avoid wastage. In any case, Nigeria said it is no longer accepting vaccine donations with short, unviable shelf lives. 

Senegalese authorities have indicated that 400,000 doses of expired vaccines would be destroyed. Malawi burned 20,000 doses of expired vaccines in May 2021, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo returned 1.3 million doses of vaccines due to expiration. 

If you total the numbers above, these countries have already discarded more than 3 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccines. 

Indeed, this is a sad state of affairs because Africa remains the least vaccinated continent against Covid-19. As at the end of 2021, only a worrying 7.5 percent of the continent's 1.3 billion people are fully vaccinated while a few Western countries – they know who they are – are stockpiling far more vaccines than they need and are wasting them.

The Catwalk in a Baobab Forest

Dakar Fashion Week (December 12-13, 2020) was different this year after moving its catwalk to a baobab forest – to be more socially-distant amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

And it had a message for the world: sustainability is in style. 

The event, held in Senegal carried the theme of environmental responsibility, and featured 20 designers whose collections – both those on the runway and sold in boutiques – have long been handmade on the continent rather than mass produced in factories. 

"A lot of the designers had already been doing 'slow fashion' but they didn't know it", said its initiator, Adama Amanda Ndiaye (left), a Senegalese fashion designer who also goes by the name Adama Paris, which is also the name of the label she owns and operates. 

"It's made here and it's not made in huge quantities. We were so ashamed of that for years but now we are proud of it. This is luxury". 

In what has become known as "fast fashion", consumers, most notably in the West, are buying and discarding clothes at an alarming rate, causing industry-related pollution to soar. 

The average number of times a garment is worn before it is discarded has decreased by 36% over the last 15 years, according to a 2017 report by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation. And each year, the production and dying of materials consumes about 100 million tonnes of non-renewable resources and emits vast amounts of greenhouse gases, the report states. 

In 2015 alone, carbon emissions from textile production totaled more than that of all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Furthermore, the toxic chemicals released from the dyeing and treatment of textiles is responsible for 20% of global industrial water pollution. 

The fashion industry has been negligently wasteful. Hopefully, Dakar Fashion Week signals a reset.