Week in wildlife – in pictures: nosy polar bears, a waving seal and blue-footed boobies

2 years ago 458

Waving not drowning ... a grey seal pup basks in the bank holiday sunshine on St Leonards-on-Sea beach in East Sussex, UK. The seal looked to be enjoying itself as it rolled around on the pebbles. Animal rescue authorities were in attendance to ensure people kept a safe distance from the animal

Photograph: JJ Waller/Cover Images

A grey seal pup basks in the bank holiday sunshine on St Leonards-on-Sea beach in East Sussex, UK. The seal looked to be enjoying itself as it rolled around on the pebbles. Mammal Marine Rescue were in attendance to ensure people kept a safe distance from the animal

Photograph: Tui De Roy

90 Years of Jane Goodall’s Impact, a 90-day sale with 60% of the proceeds going to the institute

A family of lions seek shelter from the blistering African sun in a tree in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. The photographer said, “Seeing lions up there is not very typical – it’s more usual with leopards”

Photograph: mediadrumimages/Gurcharan Roopra

“seeing lions up there is not a very typical, it’s more usual with leopards”

A stork flies to its nest in the cliffs high above the Atlantic Ocean in Cabo Sardão, Portugal

Photograph: Michael Probst/AP

A storks flies to its nest in the cliffs high above the Atlantic Ocean in Cabo Sardao, Portugal

Tupak, a juvenile Andean bear, is returned to the wild in Quito, Ecuador. The spectacled bear was temporarily housed at Quito Zoo after being caught eating livestock and crops, to farmers’ annoyance. Deforestation and urbanisation are encroaching on the bears’ natural habitat

Photograph: Karen Toro/Reuters

Tupak, a juvenile Andean bear is returned to the wild by helicopter, in Quito, Ecuador. The spectacled bear was being temporarily housed at the Quito Zoo after being under threat from farmers after the bear was caught in several locations eating livestock and crops. Tupac’s situation has been made harder by the loss of natural habitat due to deforestation and the advance of crops and urbanization. The goal is to move him to an even more remote mountainous area where he won’t interact with humans, but this requires a helicopter transfer

A herd of wild Asiatic elephants bathe at a wetland near the Brahmaputra river, Assam, India

Photograph: Biju Boro/AFP/Getty Images

A herd of wild Asiatic elephants bathe at Khamrenga wetland in Thakurkuchi village, outskirts of Guwahati, India

A European hare hops around Brandenberg, Germany

Photograph: Patrick Pleul/dpa

A European hare hops around Brandeberg, Germany

In Dorset, UK, a grey seal found itself becoming an unexpected social media star as beachgoers captured its emergence from the water on their phones, on Easter Monday

Photograph: Graham Hunt/BNPS

Holidaymakers on the beach enjoying the warm spring sunshine crowd around a grey seal to get photos as it comes out of the sea at Durdle Door in Dorset, UK, on Easter Monday

A ditch jewel dragonfly on the leaf of a chilli plant in West Bengal, India

Photograph: Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

A ditch jewel dragonfly on the leaf of a chili plant in Tehatta, West Bengal, India. It has transparent wings and breeds in weedy ponds, lakes, and slowly moving streams. It is very common along sewage canals, tanks, ponds and ditches.

A wild goat forages on the steep cliffs in Tunceli, central Turkey

Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

A wild goat which is under protection as feeding on the steep cliffs at Munzur Valley National Park in Tunceli, Turkey

Whale-watchers got more than they bargained for when they spotted a humpback whale caught in fishing rope off the coast of Cornwall, UK. Volunteers from Penlee Lifeboat Station cut the whale free from lobster pot lines in an “incredibly risky” operation. The whale then swam off, apparently not seriously hurt

Photograph: Hannah Wilson/PA

A humpback whale, which was caught in fishing rope off the coast of Cornwall, UK, before being freed by lifeboat volunteers. The whale, was spotted by Marine Discovery Penzance, a wildlife watching tour, after it became stuck in lobster pot lines in Mount’s Bay, near the port of Newlyn

A smalltooth sawfish in Florida, US. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is launching an emergency response effort after reports of smalltooth sawfish spinning, whirling and displaying other abnormal behaviours. There have been reports of fish deaths in the lower Florida Keys, including more than 28 smalltooth sawfish as of 24 March

Photograph: Jupiterimages/Getty Images

A smalltooth sawfish in Florida, US. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is launching what the agency described as an emergency response effort after reports of smalltooth sawfish spinning, whirling and displaying other abnormal behaviors. There have been reports of fish deaths in the lower Florida Keys, including more than 28 smalltooth sawfish as of 24 March.

A ruddy shelduck takes a bath on Eymir Lake in Ankara, Turkey

Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

A ruddy shelduck swims on Eymir Lake in Ankara, Turkey

An osprey gives the photographer a quizzical look as it carries its trout home for dinner in Rutland, UK

Photograph: mediadrumimages/Paul Settle

An osprey flies directly towards the lens of a photographer while it carries its trout home for dinner in Rutland, UK. The osprey, also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than 23 inches in length and 70 inches across the wings. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts

This frog is about to be helped across a busy road during its migration. In Slovakia, volunteers carry frogs in buckets as they make their way to a nearby water reservoir

Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

A volunteer places frogs into a bucket to help it cross the busy road as they make their way to the nearby waters of the Ruzin water reservoir for breeding as part of their amphibian migration near Margecany in Kosice region, Slovakia

A hummingbird takes nectar from a feeder in Bogotá, Colombia. Colombia boasts the highest diversity of hummingbirds globally, being home to 165 species of the world’s 360

Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

A hummingbird at the Paramuno Ecological Trail, home to hundreds of Hummingbird in Bogota, Colombia. Colombia boasts the highest diversity of hummingbird species globally, surpassing countries like Ecuador, Costa Rica, or Peru. Out of the 360 known species of hummingbirds worldwide, Colombia is home to an impressive 165 species. Hummingbirds are unique in their ability to fly backward, making them extraordinary avian creatures

A small pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly in the UK. Conservationists have recorded their lowest ever count of some butterfly varieties in Britain amid concerns about human impacts on the environment

Photograph: Ian H Leach/UKBMS/PA

A small pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly, UK. Conservationists have recorded their lowest ever count of some butterfly varieties in Britain amid concerns about human impacts on the environment.

Meteorologist Katarzyna Kudłacz looked up from her breakfast at a Polish research station in Svalbard to see three polar bears – a female and two cubs – with their noses pressed up against the window. The team fired a signal gun to scare off the bears. “It was a wonderful experience, but we must remember that they are wild animals and for them and for us it is better to keep our distance,” she said.

Photograph: Katarzyna Kudłacz