2024 Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards winner is a squirrel in a precarious position

This fox is the 2024 Comedy Wildlife video of the year

A red fox on a cold morning took the top honor in the video category of the 2024 Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards. (Kevin Lohman/Nikon Comedy Wildlife)

A squirrel that ended up stuck inside a tree in Italy is the big winner of the 2024 Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards.

The "Stuck Squirrel," a photo taken by Milko Marchetti, was spotted in "Podere Pantaleone" park in Bagnacavallo, Ravenna, Italy, according to a news release. It took first place out of more than 9,000 photos submitted from around the world – the most entries ever received in the competition’s 10-year history.

"I have taken many, many photographs of squirrels, in many situations over the years in Italy, but this one struck me as really funny and such a strange position, because it is that exact moment when the squirrel is detaching its back legs from the trunk to enter its hide," Marchetti said in a statement.

Overall winner, "Stuck Squirrel" by Milko Marchetti/Nikon Comedy Wildlife

"Whenever I show this image at the nature seminars at my local photography club, the audience always explode with raucous laughter, so I had to enter it!"

The competition was founded in 2015 by Paul Joynson Hicks and Tom Sullam, both professional photographers and passionate conservationists. It’s free to enter, and this year’s top prize winner will receive a safari in the Masai Mara, Kenya, a handmade trophy from the Wonder Workshop in Tanzania and a new photography bag.