Whenever Milko Marchetti breaks out the squirrel picture at photography clubs and nature talks, “the audience always explodes in energetic laughter,” he says.
In the photo, taken on a spring day in 2022, the squirrel is seemingly stuck in an old woodpecker’s nest in Podere Pantaleone park in Ravenna, Italy. Mr. Marchetti told the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards that squirrels are rare and elusive in Italy, “but here in the park they are quite confident.” What Mr. Marchetti captured is no awkward mishap, he says, but rather the moment the squirrel released its hind legs to enter the hole, as curious animals sometimes do to explore this hollow tree.
Stuck Squirrel beat thousands of other entries to win this year’s contest. The awards were founded nine years ago on the premise that empathy – properly ignited by humour – can help humans appreciate nature, and do more to conserve it. We have all, at some time or another, been this squirrel. And perhaps we have also been the dancing squirrel that will be shown later in this story, along with the other winners of 2024.