A photo of a dancing gorilla has taken out the top prize in this year’s Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards.

The competition, which has been going since 2015, offers a place for nature photographers to show off the amusing snapshots captured while documenting the natural world.

More than 10,000 entries from 109 countries were submitted to judges this year, the largest number of photos ever entered in the contest.

UK photographer Mark Meth-Cohn took the winning photo in Rwanda earlier this year while trekking through the Virunga Mountains.

“On this particular day, we came across a large family group known as the Amahoro family. They were gathered in a forest clearing where the adults were calmly foraging while the youngsters were enthusiastically playing,” Mr Meth-Cohn said.

“One young male was especially keen to show off his acrobatic flair: pirouetting, tumbling and high-kicking.

“Watching his performance was pure joy, and I’m thrilled to have captured his playful spirit in this image.”

Here’s a selection of the other category winners.

Bird category winnerA bird that has the head of another bird in its beak Sometimes you just want to bite your neighbour’s head off … literally.(Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Warren Price)Fish and other aquatic animals category winnerA orange fish that looks like it's smiling Smiley.(Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Jenny Stock)Reptile, amphibian and junior photographer category winnerTwo frogs fighting in the water Baptism Of The Unwilling Convert.(Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Grayson Bell)Young photographer category winnerThree red foxes in the sand with the middle one falling into the sand head first Hit the dance floor!(Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Paula Rustemeier)Portfolio category winneryoung female chimpanzee picking her nose and eating it A young female chimpanzee picking her nose and eating it!(Maggie Hoffman: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards)

A young female chimpanzee picking her nose! (Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Maggie Hoffman)

A chimpanzee looking at snot on it's finger A chimpanzee looking at snot on it’s finger.(Maggie Hoffman: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards)

Hmm…I could eat this. (Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Maggie Hoffman)

A chimpanzee looking and smiling at snot on its finger A chimpanzee looking and smiling at snot on its finger.(Maggie Hoffman: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards)

It does look delicious. (Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Maggie Hoffman)

A chimpanzee tasting snot that it picked out its nose A chimpanzee trying snot from its nose.(Maggie Hoffman: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards)

Just a little taste. (Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Maggie Hoffman)

Highly commendedA white tailed sea eagle with a bright yellow beak in the snow that looks like it's pointing A white-tailed sea eagle saying “go away”.(Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Annette Kirby)Three lions yawning at the same time The choir of yawning lions.(Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Meline Ellwanger)A bird with green grass stems on its face on a windy day Now which direction is my nest?(Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Alison Tuck)A family of lions with them all roaring at the same time I Just Can’t Wait To Be King.(Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Bret Saalwaechter)a squirrel that looks like it has a big fuzzy hair do Bad Hair Day!(Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Christy Grinton)A brown bear smiling Smile, you’re being photographed.(Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Valterri Mulkahainen)A bird that looks like its putting its landing gears down to land on water Landing Gear Down.(Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Erkko Badermann)Three Monkeys jumping around on a tree branch Monkey Circus.(Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Kalin Botev)A lemure that is licking one of its fingers “If you don’t lick your fingers, you’re only half enjoying it.”(Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Liliana Luca)A female gorilla giving a kiss to its baby Aaaaawa, mum.(Supplied: Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards/Mark Meth-Cohn)