Cute Penguins Being Sassy on Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards Shortlist

A picture of a penguin seemingly holding a fin up at another is one of the finalists in the 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.

The picture, which was taken by wildlife photographer Jennifer Hadley, was snapped on the Falkland Islands, which are about 300 miles east of the southern tip of South America. "This photo was taken on my way to Antarctica at a beach on Carcass Island, which is part of the Falkland Islands," Hadley told Newsweek.

"These are gentoo penguins," she said. "They are quite comedic and can be seen surfing the waves before 'crashing' onto land awkwardly. In this particular instance, the penguins had been swimming and as they stumbled onto land, the one on the right shook himself off and gave his mate 'the fin.'"

Gentoo penguins are a small species, growing to only about 30 inches tall, according to National Geographic. They feed on fish, squid and krill and can dive below the waves for up to seven minutes and to depths of 655 feet. Adults spend all day hunting in the waters near their shore base, going about 16 miles away from land as they catch prey. They mostly live on islands across the Antarctic and were classified as "near threatened" in 2007 on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List.

However, according to penguin expert Richard Sherley, the penguin on the left belongs to a different species, unlike the bird on the right.

"The penguin on the left is a Magellanic penguin, the one on the right is a gentoo penguin. The co-occur along the South American coast and at the Falkland Islands," Sherley, a senior lecturer at the University of Exeter, told Newsweek.

Magellanic penguins are about the same height as gentoo penguins and live around the tip of South America.

While it may appear as if the two penguins are having a sassy showdown, the photo merely caught a lucky moment between the birds.

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"This is 100 percent a serendipitous capture. The penguin on the right has just come out of the water and is shaking water off of itself, a bit like a dog. That's all," Sherley said.

However, penguins do communicate with one another, usually within the same species.

"Penguins communicate with each other visually by gestures, just generally using their beak and head—e.g., threat gestures. But most notably communicate via calls. They are birds after all," Sherley said.

Other pictures on the finalist shortlist in the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards depict two fighting wallabies in a Dirty Dancing-esque pose, a waving raccoon and a very disgruntled-looking owl.

The overall winner in the competition, as well as the category and highly commended winners, will be announced December 8.