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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment

The week in wildlife

Week in wildlife: A sparrow collects a pigeon feather
On a warm spring day in Kiev, a sparrow collects a pigeon feather to build its nest in a park in the centre of the Ukrainian capital. Small birds in the UK will be happy spring is finally here: they were hit hard by the cold winter
Photograph: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images
Week in wildlife: A lizard lies next to a water level indicator at Camatagua water reservoir
A lizard suns itself next to a water-level indicator at the Camatagua water reservoir in Venezuela on 25 March. A drought has lowered water levels in the country's hydroelectric dams to critical levels and triggered a series of electrical outages
Photograph: Jorge Silva/Reuters
Week in wildlife: Geese take flight in a snow storm at Carronbridge
Geese fly through a snowstorm in Carronbridge, central Scotland, after a night of heavy snow on 30 March. Temperatures plunged below freezing as sleet, rain and snow hit all parts of the country
Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA
Week in wildlife: Handout of a zebra finch
Scientists have cracked the genetic code of a songbird, the zebra finch, for the first time. They have identified more than 800 genes linked to song-learning, and hope their discovery may shed light on human speech disorders. Baby zebra finches learn to sing in virtually the same way as human babies learn to speak – by copying their elders – which means the tiny bird should serve as a valuable model for understanding human learning and memory
Photograph: L. Brian Stauffer/University of Illinois News Bureau/Reuters
Week in wildlife: A baby cougar is walked by a volunteer, Bolivia
A volunteer takes a baby cougar for a walk at Machia Park in Villa Tunari, Bolivia. Machia Park provides shelter and care for abused animals through the work of Inti Wara Yassi, a Bolivian conservation NGO run by national and foreign volunteers
Photograph: Dado Galdieri/AP
Week in wildlife: Japanese macaques eat cherry blossom at Tokyo's Ueno zoo
Japanese macaques blasphemously devour cherry blossoms at Tokyo's Ueno zoo on 29 March. Japan's meteorological agency announced that cherry trees bloomed across the Tokyo area six days earlier than previous years
Photograph: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images
Week in wildlife: Kenyan Safari
So the lions' jokes weren't that funny after all: the laugh of the hyena, it turns out, is a way for the animals (such as this spotted hyena in Kenya) to express sex, age, dominance and their individual signature
Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Week in wildlife: One of 15 highly colourful deadly Poison Arrow Frogs
The poison-arrow frog, shown here being counted at Sea Life London Aquarium, is at the centre of some apparently shady dealings in Asia. The endangered frog, which produces toxic skin secretions but is popular as a pet because of its exotic appearance, is seemingly being shipped in large numbers from Kazakhstan through Lebanon to Thailand without being reported to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
Photograph: David Parry/PA
Week in wildlife: Record numbers of young harp seals die in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada
A Beater Harp seal pup tries to suckle in the north gulf of the St Lawrence river on 27 March. Record numbers of young harp seals have died this year – not from Canada's controversial seal hunt, for which only one vessel showed up on the first day according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Canadian government, but as a result of record low ice levels in the gulf
Photograph: Stewart Cook/IFAW /Rex Features
Week in wildlife: Two toads make their way across a road, Germany
Two toads make their way across a road as a car approaches near the northern German town of Prisdorf on 27 March. Research shows toads are able to detect earthquakes days before they happen
Photograph: Philipp Guelland/AFP/Getty Images
Week in wildlife: Toad Day Out collection event in Cairns
A cane toad escapes from a box at the second annual Toad Day Out roundup in Cairns, Australia, on 28 March. Residents across north Queensland dedicated their Saturday night to helping a coordinated effort to reduce the threat of cane toads to the region. The toads were euthanased in freezers and will be used for research and fertiliser, and in some cases to make wallets and golf gloves
Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/EPA
Week in wildlife: the wolverine has joined ZSL Whipsnade Zoo as part of Wild Wild Whipsnade
Kirke the wolverine has joined ZSL Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire, as part of Wild Wild Whipsnade, an exhibit featuring animals that used to roam England – moose, lynx, wolverines, bears, wild boar and wolves. The wolverines are being bred at Whipsnade as part of the European endangered species breeding programme
Photograph: Geoff Caddick/PA
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