Week in wildlife: a toxic newt, a rescued gibbon and baby flying foxes
Flying burrito brothers … rescued baby flying foxes rest, wrapped up, after being injured by giant hailstones (some as large as a cricket ball) in Queensland storms, Australia. Almost 120 fruit bats (as they are also known) were injured, some critically, before being rescued by volunteers and admitted to the RSPCA wildlife hospitalPhotograph: RSPCA Queensland
This silvery gibbon was seized from the checked baggage of a passenger travelling from Malaysia via Thailand, at Mumbai International Airport, India. The gibbons are endemic to Java and are endangered, with less than 2,500 remaining in the wild. One of the ones recovered from the baggage was dead, while the other, in a video shared by Indian Customs, was seen cradled in the arms of an officer, softly hooting before covering its face with its armPhotograph: Customs Mumbai International Airport/AFP/Getty Images
Spanish photographer Ángel Hidalgo has captured the world’s first ever white Iberian lynx on camera in Jaén, Spain, after months of tryingPhotograph: @angeliyo_o
Goats feed on leaves in Sana’a, Yemen. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization has carried out vaccination and treatment campaigns for more than 5m livestock across Yemen in recent years, as the ongoing conflict has disrupted markets and veterinary servicesPhotograph: Yahya Arhab/EPA
Huskies in Qaanaaq, Greenland, from a new book by Cristina Mittermeier. She said: “This is one of my favourite photos, and one of the most difficult photographic jobs I have ever done. These dogs live in their own society. Without much food they pull loaded sleds for many miles. When I arrived, the hunters told me not to feed them or pet them – very difficult because they are beautiful. While the dogs rested, I would try to get close. But these dogs are fierce. They don’t like people. So I was crawling on my stomach trying to take a picture of the alpha dog while trying not to get bitten”Photograph: Cristina Mittermeier
The little penguins in St Kilda are now back on view in Melbourne, Australia. A colony of around 1,400 little penguins live at St Kilda breakwater, but in 2020, the number of visitors coming to see them was too great. Now a viewing platform has been built, allowing tourists to admire the adorable foot-tall penguins without trampling through their home, and guided tours to the colony have recommencedPhotograph: Flossy Sperring
An elephant has a refreshing mud bath at Little Makololo watering hole, fed by a solar-powered pump, in Hwange national park, Zimbabwe. In the dry season, elephants place a huge demand on some of the smaller supplemented water supplies, and at times have to take turns drinking from the water outlet. Thousands of elephants now commute between Botswana and Zimbabwe through the dry season to track pumped waterPhotograph: Zinyange Auntony/AFP/Getty Images
A tiger is treated by vets from Four Paws, an animal welfare organisation, in Luján, Argentina. It and more than 100 other big cats were left in limbo when authorities closed a zoo on safety grounds. For five years, the animals were looked after by a few zookeepers who, despite having lost their jobs, fed and cared for them – but overcrowding, underfunding and lack of facilities caused their health to deteriorate. Once the big cats are healthy again, Four Paws plans to transfer them to wildlife sanctuaries abroadPhotograph: Natacha Pisarenko/AP
Two weeks ago, two new frogs were discovered on an Australian island; this week, we introduce Phrynopus melanoinguinis, one of two new species discovered in the Yanachaga mountain range, Peru. Reddish in colour, the frog is only about two and a half centimetres longPhotograph: Pablo Venegas/Rainforest Partnership/AFP/Getty Images
Vultures feed on carcasses at an observation station built specially for the purpose in Bolu, Turkey. Carcasses are placed at the station each day at dawn, attracting vultures and other scavenger birds, who in turn attract local nature enthusiasts and photographersPhotograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
One of our mascot foxes, who have appeared off and on in this column over the past summer, basks in the autumnal sunshine in Clapham, London, UK. She is one of a litter of cubs raised in the garden this year and her winter coat has grown in ready for colder weatherPhotograph: Anna Watson/Alamy Live News
Antelopes in Comoé national park, Ivory Coast. The park was abandoned and ravaged during the political and military crisis that plunged Ivory Coast into chaos from 2002 to 2011. Now the vast territory (half the size of Wales) is slowly coming back to life, but remains threatened by human exploitationPhotograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images
Cute but lethal … a rough-skinned newt crosses a rain-soaked path in southwestern Oregon, US. The species contains the potent neurotoxin tetrodotoxin in its skin tissue, making it highly poisonous to predators. Its bright orange underside serves as a warning of its toxicityPhotograph: Robin Loznak/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock
