37 Cute Wild Animals Disturbing Wildlife Photographers’ Work

By: Lydia Iseh | Published: Sep 23, 2023

These wild animals were certainly ready for their close-ups when they approached these wildlife photographers. From friendly meerkat to curious cheetahs, today, we’re going to take a look at some of the times wildlife photographers were interrupted by their subjects.

Some wild critters tend to shy away from cameras, though these curious animals showed absolutely no signs of fear as they approached these photographers, some of which even hung out for a while. It doesn’t get any more wild than this!

A Curious Fox Requests Portrait from Dan Dinu

While heading up to St. Anne’s Mountain for a shooting adventure during the winter time, Romanian wildlife photographer, Dan Dinu, got a lovely surprise from a wild fox. 

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Source: www.picturecorrect.com

The fox happened to be rather friendly, much thanks to the fact that he was raised by a local forester. The curious fox clearly wanted a peek around Dan’s lens.

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Liba Radova Gets Up Close and Personal With Two Unexpected Guests

Liba Radova was out shooting in a field recently when she was approached by a rather strange pairing of wild animals — a baby deer and a baby wolf.

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Source: Reddit

Some say that Radova was taking care of these two animals, which were orphaned at the time. There’s no doubt these two balls of fluff are adorable.

Will Burrard-Lucas Becomes a Lookout Post for a Few Meerkats

Professional wildlife photographer, Will Burrard-Lucas, becomes a makeshift lookout post for a few meerkats while out shooting the plains in Botswana, Africa.

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Source: Pinterest

During his time in the plains, he spent six days capturing the life of an adorable family of meerkats. The babies eventually became curious about what Will had to offer. 

A Eurasian Fox Cuddles Up to Gary Mann

Eurasian foxes are certainly curious little creatures, and there is no better example of their curiousness than with professional wildlife photographer Gary Mann.

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Source: Twitter

In the photo above, you can see a young Eurasian fox piggybacked on top of Gary Mann as he keeps his calm and shoots forward. 

Art Wolfe Shares a Magical Moment With a Baby Elephant Seal

While out filming for a documentary, Travel to the Edge, on South Georgia Island, wildlife photographer and conservationist Art Wolfe, shares a very magical moment with a Southern elephant seal.

Source: artwolfe.com

Art has been shooting since the 1970s and has had plenty of close encounters with wild animals during his time in the field.

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Chris Du Plessis Hangs Side by Side with a Cheetah

There is no animal that quite encapsulates the wild animal kingdom quite like the cheetah, and when photographer Chris Du Plessis got up and close with one, it was quite a stunning moment.

Source: Facebook

This photo was taken at the incredible Tshukudu Game Lodge in Hoedspruit, South Africa. The photo perfectly balances what looks dangerous and powerful, with a feeling that is sweet and endearing.

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A Silly Koala Takes Control of TV Camera

This curious little koala bear turned into a director after taking control of the recording equipment for an Australian news channel.

Source: Pinterest

At the time, the news crew was shooting footage at an Australian zoo when they captured this seemingly adorable koala auditioning for a job as a camera operator. He was certainly an innovative little fella.

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Baby Monkey Plays Photographer

There is no doubt that monkeys are intelligent creatures, and they are just about as resourceful as any human when given the opportunity.

Source: picmia.com

This little inquisitive monkey wanted to see what was going on through the eye hole of this photographer’s camera. It isn’t unusual to hear about interactions like this between monkeys and humans. 

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Curious Grizzly Inspects Camera

You don’t have to know much about animals to know that grizzly bears aren’t the most human-friendly animals on this planet, though they are not the most dangerous either.

Source: www.cbc.ca

Most bears would prefer to stay away from humans, though sometimes, in unexpected predicaments, they will go on unique adventures and take up hobbies like photography. That camera belongs to the grizzly now!

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This Squirrel Has Gone Nuts!

With the ability to leap ten times higher than the length of their bodies and rotate their ankles 180 degrees when climbing, squirrels are certainly fascinating little creatures.

Source: www.texasmonthly.com

Plus, as most of us know, they aren’t shy about coming out during the day. This little squirrel was caught on film trying to operate this photographer’s Nikon camera. 

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Lioness Steals a Photographer’s Camera

Sometimes, as a wildlife photographer, you go home empty-handed.

Source: www.whitewolfpack.com

And, in this case, there wasn’t much this photographer could do to get their camera back from this full-grown lioness. While out on the hunt, she stole this photographer’s camera to give to her cubs. Who knows, it may have been an early birthday present. 

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Young Fox Asks, “How Do I Look?”

This little fox was clearly asking for a new dating profile picture when he approached this wildlife photographer in the field.

Source: Alamy

Not only does he crouch in front of him in the grass to get his portrait taken, but he also seems to come around to the viewing side as if he was looking to see how he looked in his photo.

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Kangaroo Goes for the Close-Up

Ask anybody that lives in Australia, and they will tell you that kangaroos are not the most human-friendly animals. To get up and close to them, you must sit patiently and wait for them to make the first move. 

Source: Flickr

Let’s hope that this photographer didn’t flinch while these kangaroos were crawling into his long lens, or they may have called the whole pack on him.

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Every Monkey with a DSLR Thinks He’s a Photographer

In an incredible shot from High Life North Magazine, a small monkey can be seen holding a DSLR camera with a Nikon strap, looking suspiciously human.

Source: www.pinterest.ph

There is no doubt that monkeys are absolutely fascinating creatures to observe, as they love to socialize and are extremely intelligent. This one looks like it just found a brand-new toy.

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Meerkat Goes Surfin’ Safari

As you likely know by now, meerkats are very curious little animals who love being social.

Source: www.maxpixel.net

This little meerkat decided to take a ride on the back of his wildlife photographer friend. While he was likely on the lookout for the rest of his mob, you could almost imagine him saying, “hang ten!”

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Well Isn’t This Quite the Hoot

Owls are quite mysterious creatures that are fairly difficult to shoot. It’s not often that you see owls out and about during the day, so the fact that this wildlife photographer was able to capture one in such broad daylight was already rare.

Source: www.dl-online.com

Pair that with the fact that this owl is seemingly having a staredown contest with the camera, and you have an unlikely image.

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Giving this Photographer the Eye of the Tiger

Over the past few years, white tigers have become extremely rare.

Source: Alamy

With about 5,000 to 7,000 tigers left on Earth, there are only about 200 white tigers. So, not only was this photographer likely astounded when this baby white tiger crawled on his head, he was also quite lucky to have a moment with one at all.

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Shannon Benson Acts as the Jumping-Off Point

Shannon Benson is one wildlife photographer with an incredible wild-animal relationship. She has spent time documenting animals throughout South Africa for many years. 

Source: www.catersnews.com

Though she has had plenty of incredible photos taken with leopards, elephants, snakes, and more, nothing quite beats this photo of her with a bushy, bright-eyed lemur pouncing off of her camera.

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Call in the Penguin Paparazzi

Seeing humans must be an odd experience for penguins, considering the fact that they live in some of the most desolate places on earth.

Source: www.outdoorphotographer.com

However, when wildlife photographer David Schultz set up his camera to capture penguins in their natural habitat, they were very interested to see what was going on with his equipment, making for an incredibly silly penguin photo.

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Leopold Kanzler and His Eager Beaver

Leopold Kanzler takes many pictures of the Danuve River, and through his journeys, he often catches pictures of beavers.

Source: Reddit

This eager beaver was a bit different, however, deciding to take a chance and hone his own skills as a photographer. Apparently, Kanzler had to hide apple slices in his camera to get this unique shot.

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Tiny Vole Creeps Up to the Long Lens

This tiny vole creature was more than happy to sneak up on photographer Simon Roy’s camera to get a long lens close-up while out in the garden.

Source: Caters News Agency

It’s wild that an animal of this size showed no fear, simply looking for a snack that allowed Roy to get this unique shot. He may be only a few inches tall, but he’s one of the most courageous little guys we’ve ever seen.

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The Cutest Squirrel Photo Session of All Time?

Ultra-talented Russian wildlife photographer, Vadim Trunov, has had plenty of close encounters with wildlife before. However, this was one of the first times many people caught a glimpse into his squirrel sessions.

Source: www.pinterest.ph

It seems he was able to capture these cutre squirrels by leaving a pine cone nut in the clearing for them to fight over.

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Bobby the Owl Takes A Seat on Lens

Wildlife photographer’s wife snaps a photo of one of the world’s largest owls as it lands on her husband’s camera lens. 

Source: Facebook

In many ways, Keith Kirk’s wife beat him at his own game by snapping this incredible photo of the European eagle owl that landed on his lens while he was peering through the viewfinder. 

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Adorable Fox Gets His Moment Behind the Camera

Wildife photography often involves the animals being in front of the camera. However, this wildlife photographer was outsmarted when this wild fox came over and began balancing his paw on the tripod, almost looking as if he was peering through the viewfinder. 

Source: www.pinterest.ph

This little fox is a frequent guest of the garden of Giedrius Stakauskas, a renowned animal photographer. 

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Fake Bear Chases After Photogs

Though this photo of a bear chasing after a few wildlife photographers crumbled under legitimate analysis, it did go viral in 2015, so we felt it necessary to add to the list.

Source: Pinterest

This photo from Tim Sparks was taken on a location scout in Colorado a few years back, and was photoshopped with a grizzly stock image so that the crew could freak out their friends on Facebook. Looks legit to us!

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Made to Be Part of the Wolf Pack

This photographer, Monty Sloan, was poised to take a photo, when a pack of gigantic gray wolves nuzzled up to him and started giving him kisses.

Source: petapixel.com

The pack began slowly circling him, potentially trying to figure out what he was doing there, before climbing on top of him and each other in a playful manner. There’s a surprising lack of cunning for a pack of wild wolves.

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Squirrel Takes Shelter in Long Lens

As we now know, squirrels are very opportunistic creatures. They are certainly not shy about it either.

Source: www.dgwildlife.com

When this little squirrel was presented the opportunity, it decided to crawl inside of Dalia Kvedaraite’s camera for a little afternoon snack. Nothing like the hull of a camera lens to protect yourself from the icy cold!

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Cunning Little Fox Tricks This Wildlife Photographer

There’s no doubt that foxes have long had a reputation for being sly and cunning. This photo of a fox sneaking up behind photographer Marion Klette just proves it. 

Source: Pinterest

What’s hilarious about this photo is that the fox she was looking for to shoot was the one that popped up right behind her. Meanwhile, her buddy Tommy Angelsen was their to capture the hilarity on camera.

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It’s Not John Green’s Camera Anymore

Monkeys aren’t great at taking no for an answer, and once they have your belongings in their possession, getting them back can be a nightmare.

Source: Twitter

Seeing this photo from John Green of a ton of monkeys crawling all over his camera makes us wonder if he ever got it back. Regardless, it’s an awesome shot of a bunch of little monkeys doing their thing!

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An Alpine Marmot Gets a Little Too Personal

There’s been multiple instances of alpine marmots gettng friendly with photographers, and we’d be lying if we said it wasn’t absolutely adorable.

Source: dailyanimalfwd.blogspot.com

This little photo of captured up on a high summit shows an alpine marmot sticking his head into the long lens of the wildlife photographer’s camera as he peers through the viewfinder. We wonder what he thought he’d find in there!

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Stag Sneaks Up Behind Oblivious Wildlife Photographer

If you’ve never been up close and personal with a stag, know that these things are massive. They are certainly animals you wouldn’t want to tussle with.

Source: Pinterest

That makes it all the more terrifying for this wildlife photographer, who was seemingly oblivious to the fact that he had a massive stag sneaking up behind him.

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Curious Wolf Pup Explore’s Wildlife Photographer’s Camera

Nature can be brutal, but sometimes it is downright adorable, and if this photo of a little wolf pup trying to inspect this wildlife photographer’s camera doesn’t audibly make you say “aww,” then we don’t know what will. 

Source: Reddit

We suppose she was lucky it was just a baby!

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Massive Grizzly Takes a Seat Next to Wildlife Photographer

Nothing would make most people panic more than a massive Alaskan grizzly bear coming up to them.

Source: www.alaskaphotoadventures.com

However, this Alaskan grizzly seemed to be pretty chill when he came up to take a seat next to this wildlife photographer while he was out shooting and fishing. Let’s just remember that this thing is 1,500 pounds and wildly territorial!

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Photobombed by a Deer

There must have been something quite tasty inside of this long lens for this deer to want to stick her entire snout inside of it.

Source: Flickr

Good thing for this wildlife photographer, who got an absolutely astounding photo from it!

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Large Cheetah Sniffs Distracted Wildlife Photographer

This photo of a cheetah sniffing an oblivious wildlife photographer in South Africa almost doesn’t look real.

Source: www.lookphotos.com

Much of that probably has to do with the fact that cheetahs are insanely rare to get close to and some of the biggest cats on the planet!

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Gray Wolf Gets Sneaky

Photographers Jim and Jamie Dutcher were out shooting at Sawtooth Range in Idaho when they got a little surprise.

Source: UCSB Arts and Lectures

Well, we shouldn’t say little. The surprise was, in fact, a massive gray wolf sneaking up close behind them. Luckily, the two were okay!

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