https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/259c94464ed61b4561be2821f14424a2fd6d5f32/764_148_2930_1758/master/2930.jpg?width=1900&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=67d261b205a9e90520d694b9715e8545
The week in wildlife

The week in wildlife – in pictures

The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including wild cats and a raccoon rescue

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b79c857be4cdbabcfbcca6630d41000dbd6ee0a6/0_0_3000_1913/master/3000.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=0972cd4d1dbbb54d371d61c536a4b868

A herd of milu deer on a wetland near the Dafeng Milu national nature reserve in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China

Photograph: He Jinghua/VCG/Getty Images

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/fe6bd804e8b6cd68ff4c4a97ec6f175555c523c4/0_0_1345_897/master/1345.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=de8d40a61d109850dc2a459231ec2fc6

An Ecuadorian hillstar hummingbird (Oreotrochilus chimborazo) at the Jocotoco Foundation’s Chakana reserve on the slope of the Antisana volcano, 50km south-east of Quito

Photograph: Rodrigo Buendía/AFP/Getty Images

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/3d11d797a5b1b5d3620dd6ccc3b43b9088f237dd/0_0_2835_1892/master/2835.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=af7181f7bcf1ff8a233c4956abb4d74f

A flock of flamingos on Lake Tuz during their incubation period in Aksaray, Turkey

Photograph: Murat Oner Tas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/27fd7a37da397101e0e74a0d2cb80b6a034715a1/0_0_5472_3648/master/5472.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=78dc431f545811c51b86cbc265690885

A white-tailed bumblebee on livelong flowers in the morning dew in Dunsden, Oxfordshire, UK

Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine/REX/Shutterstock

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/33c8dcaf5aeac683c76c04646b6eb8226eaa7c34/0_0_3500_2333/master/3500.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=ee41b7fb5379c48164795fc3426b7f65

Memorial to the Albatrosses by Thomas P Peschak, judged highly commended in the wildlife photojournalism: single image category in the wildlife photographer of the year 2020 awards

Photograph: Thomas P Peschak/Wildlife Photographer of the Year/PA

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5f80079b8c33df1e911dacdb146c9d548ea3315b/0_0_6720_4480/master/6720.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=08b655f7c7db46bab847c02773e626bf

A warning sign close to a camping ground where a man was killed by a polar bear at Longyearbyen on the Svalbard archipelago, Norway. According to local news reports, the man and six others, only identified as foreign nationals, were sleeping in tents when a polar bear attacked early in the morning

Photograph: Maja Hitij/Getty Images

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/bd0cf5426d29f26869a1fe8260cfba36bf13e1c7/0_0_3500_2334/master/3500.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=3a12a75424f66a876c90354fde497d08

Dr Wave Kashweeka, a principal veterinary officer, stands over the carcass of an elephant found near Seronga in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Elephants are now reported to have started dying in a similar way in neighbouring Zimbabwe, and scientists are trying to find the cause

Photograph: Thalefang Charles/Reuters

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/ca8d27a119f4a02c30977efa4e3d37daea24ea09/0_0_6720_4480/master/6720.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=f40b213395f819fc660f626f5cbdc734

Wildcats at Derek Gow’s farm in Upcott Grange, Devon, UK. Gow is rewilding his land and reintroducing historically native species such as wild boar and wildcats, which have previously been eradicated from the region

Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The Guardian

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d229563aaa043b4169627b7036e8ab28e03385a3/0_0_5472_3648/master/5472.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=0993535d59f488d441fbefa9b18e2970

A bird sits on a branch in La Fortuna de San Carlos, north-west of San José, Costa Rica

Photograph: Jeffrey Arguedas/EPA

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/36309bb49952ad98c785024917ecb06b76136445/0_0_5100_3399/master/5100.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=ae97eb3a0da6757cb2638d32aa21f80f

An eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) in the red eft stage, at DuPont state recreational forest near Hendersonville, North Carolina, US

Photograph: Bill Gozansky/Alamy

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/edc8fbea54b116cbe6ea687398831944006981e8/0_0_3685_2457/master/3685.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=31e0758f2b7086fd52fd0b2b7f1e64b4

An okapi at Mulhouse zoo in eastern France

Photograph: Sébastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d6997621204d49c354b438621e975b9f06ddb90c/0_0_3885_2573/master/3885.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=83c4578f376055d643cb053b142c894c

A raccoon is rescued by biologists from a burning area of the Pantanal wetlands, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. The Pantanal, a huge tropical wetland spread over Brazil’s border with Bolivia and Paraguay, is suffering its worst fires in more than 20 years

Photograph: Joao Paulo Guimaraes/AFP/Getty Images

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cc1c6b90b139791366ac7552207aabfc2f071d/0_0_3160_2107/master/3160.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=34a2a93f795e61bb505baa3cdf31ce45

A fisherman picks up a dead dolphin from the Indian Ocean off Grand Sable, Mauritius. At least 39 dolphins and whales have washed up dead on the beaches of Mauritius. According to Greenpeace Africa the carcasses have been taken for postmortem analysis to establish if there is a connection with the oil spill from MV Wakashio, a Japanese owned Panama-flagged bulk carrier which ran aground, spilling more than 1,000 tonnes of fuel

Photograph: Laura Morosoli/EPA

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/259c94464ed61b4561be2821f14424a2fd6d5f32/0_0_3694_2387/master/3694.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=cc5e5908b572b06966d1447d7e7feb7b

A chimpanzee reacts to visitors as he sits in his enclosure at Osnabrück zoo in Germany. Two males, Lobo and Lome, moved from Leipzig zoo to Osnabrück to strengthen the social structure of the existing group

Photograph: Friso Gentsch/AP

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/798e90b9bc5dc04ba92ae89c153b92c584e46ee7/0_0_6240_4160/master/6240.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=4cd24d37ae9fd853175c89a88cdc390e

A bull Shiras moose (Alces alces shirasi) in green forest vegetation inWard, Colorado, US

Photograph: Steve Boice/Alamy

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/49b71584c1d79e56399465442c23cd09c95a5ab0/0_0_4000_2670/master/4000.jpg?width=1010&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=46af0573640cfaaf4fea00387490935c

A red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio) in a shrub in Lauterbach, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany

Photograph: Stephan Schulz/dpa