Top of the hops: Air guitaring kangaroo plays its way to victory in Comedy Wildlife photography awards that featured a reclining monkey, a dancing otter and a puffed-up grouse

A photo of an air guitar-strumming kangaroo has won this year’s Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.

The photo, taken by Jason Moore of Perth, Australia, and titled ‘Air Guitar Roo’, shows a young kangaroo in a field of wildflowers in a rocker’s pose.

The photo beat out 5,300 entries from 1,842 entrants from 85 countries, the competition organizers said.

Jason said he was only able to capture the award-winning photo after getting up before sunrise one morning to take photos of some waterfowl during the early morning “golden hour.”

“It was a disappointing morning on the water,” he said.

“However, when I saw this Roo strike the air guitar pose, it immediately put a smile on my face and I knew I had captured something very special,” Jason added.

Otter Ballerinas by Otter Kwek from Singapore: ‘An arabesque smoothed otter’

The rainforest dandy by Delphine Casimir from Brussels, Belgium: ‘This photo was taken in the monkey forest in Ubud, Bali. This place is a crazy place where monkeys are king! Sometimes they put on a show, sometimes they climb on you to look for fleas or steal the piece of cookie you’re trying to eat.”

Snowball! by Jacques Poulard from Craponne, France: ‘A black grouse comes to me in a very cold winter’

Jason’s photo beat the entries, including a dancing otter posing gracefully amid lush greenery, a relaxed monkey spotted in Bali and an angry-looking grouse pictured in the dead of winter.

The organizers awarded a number of prizes to participants from all over the world.

Photographer Jacek Stankiewicz won both the Junior Award and the Affinity Photo People’s Choice Award for his photo entitled ‘Dispute’.

The photo shows several greenfinches standing on a branch, one of which points to the right with its beak open, as if arguing with the other birds.

Stankiewicz from Krakow, Poland, said of his photo: ‘I caught this scene while birdwatching in the Bialowieza Forest.

‘My friends interpret this scene in two ways: a young, mischievous boy arguing with a parent. Or a child reports to the parent that his brother has done something wrong: “Look, he broke the glass in the window.”

Unexpected dive by Vittorio Ricci from Genoa, Italy: ‘An unusual and almost miserable end to a perfect moment, previously prepared, for a successful fishing’

Dispute by Jacek Stankiewicz from Krakow, Poland: ‘I caught this scene while birdwatching in the Bialowieza Forest. Young greenfinch was still being fed by its parents. But every now and then birds seemed to have a fight. My friends interpret this scene in two ways: A young, mischievous boy argues with a parent. Or a child reports to the parent that his brother has done something wrong: “Look, he broke the glass in the window.”

I finally learned to fly…or did I?! by Tãmea Ambrus from Budapest, Hungary: ‘The ground squirrel jumped as if it could fly. Unfortunately he has no wings. To his surprise, he fell back to the ground.”

Vittorio Ricci won the Creatures of the Air Award for his photo of a heron apparently falling into the water.

Otter Kwek from Singapore won the Under Water Award for his photo of an otter that appears to be dancing, while Tãmea Ambrus from Budapest won the Portfolio Award for a series of photos of a squirrel that looks like it is trying to fly.

The Video Award, meanwhile, went to Lily Bernau for her film ‘Too Cold’, in which a penguin apparently refuses to go into the sea.

Free to enter for both amateur and professional photographers, the competition celebrates the sheer hilarity of the natural world while highlighting the need to protect these incredible wildlife.

The competition was founded in 2015 by Paul Joynson-Hicks MBE and Tom Sullam and has grown into a globally renowned competition with images viewed by millions every year.