The week in wildlife

A beetle clambers in the petals of a wild flower in the Namaqualand plains of Nieuwoudtville, South Africa. The Namaqualand spring flowers are world famous. Namaqualand is a semi-desert environment, however in the spring (July to September) depending on the rains which soak into the earth, millions of flowers emerge in an explosion of colour Photograph: Nic Bothma/EPA

A white-fronted bee-eater, a species with very low rates of promiscuity. Sexual infidelity may be antisocial in both animals and humans, new research from the department of zoology at Oxford University suggests. In contrast, staying faithful appears to promote cooperative behaviour Photograph: Erik Svensson/PA

Two black bear cubs, one with a jug on its head, run along a roadway in Ocala national forest, Florida. The cub known as "jarhead" can finally enjoy a good meal. The clear plastic container was removed from the six-month-old cub's head after being stuck for at least 10 days. The cub poked its head into the jar when digging through rubbish. The team had to tranquilise the mother bear and then grab the cub to remove the jar from the bear's head Photograph: AP

A man herds cattle on a field covered with ice after a heavy hailstorm in Gatimu village of Nyahururu district in Kenya Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

A dead puffer fish lies on the seashore of Naic, Cavite, south-west of Manila, in the Philippines. A recent increase in the temperature of sea waters might have caused fish to swim nearer to the surface for oxygen, according to an agriculturist from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Photograph: Erik De Castro/Reuters

Keepers at London zoo discovered why a male sloth seemed reluctant to mate with its arranged partner when his 'girlfriend' Sheila turned out to be male. Sloths are notoriously hard animals to sex - and only recent advances in ultra sounding led to the discovery Photograph: London Zoo/PA

A common seal. An investigation is underway following the unusual deaths of 33 seals washed up along the east coast of Scotland and England. Scotland's environment secretary has asked scientists to investigate the potential cause of death of the animals whose carcases were washed ashore showing a single, smooth-edged cut starting at the head and spiralling around the body. The sea mammal research unit at the University of St Andrews will investigate the strange 'corkscrew' injuries, which are not consistent with any injuries such as those caused by fishing nets or boat propellers Photograph: Tony Dejak/AP

One hundred Kihansi spray toads have been flown to their native Tanzania after their population was rehabilitated in captivity at the Bronx and Toledo zoos, in partnership with the Tanzanian government and the World Bank. The toads - last seen in the wild in 2004, and declared extinct in 2009 - now reside at a new propagation centre in the capital, Dar es Salaam, with the eventual goal of reintroducing the amphibians into their former habitat Photograph: Julie Larsen Maher/AP

A adult female mountain gorilla from the Kabirizi family sits on a cliff in Virunga national park, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The world's remaining 720 wild mountain gorillas live along the volcanic range straddling the Rwandan, Congolese and Ugandan borders Photograph: Finbarr O'reilly/Reuters

A butterfly feeds on the stem of plants in Guangyuan county in northern Sichuan province. Butterflies feed mostly on nectar from flowers, while some derive nourishment from pollen, tree sap and rotting fruit with a life cycle consists of four parts; egg, larva, pupa and adult. While important as pollinators for some species of plants, butterflies in general do not carry as much pollen load as bees Photograph: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

A European bison calf, the first to be born in Spain since the 11th century, walks with its Polish-born mother in the European bison reserve in San Cebrián de Mudá, northern Spain Photograph: Bragimo/EPA

Buffalo cool off in flood water near Larkana, Sindh province, Pakistan. The United Nations warned this week that up to 3.5 million children are at risk from water-borne diseases in flood-hit Pakistan and said it was bracing to deal with thousands of potential cholera cases. More than 1,500 people across Pakistan have been killed and hundreds of thousands stranded due to flash floods triggered by the ongoing spell of monsoon rains Photograph: Fawad Hussein/EPA

A peregrine falcon chick which hatched from one of the eggs discovered strapped to the chest of Jeffrey Lendrum, a businessman jailed for 30 months for trying to smuggle rare peregrine falcon eggs to Dubai from Birmingham airport. Upon discovery the eggs were kept warm until specialist bird breeders were able to take over their care Photograph: Graham Bedingfield/West Midlands/PA

A spike in ocean temperatures has devastated coral reef populations off the Indonesian coast this summer, bleaching more than 60% of the coral off Aceh province, scientists say. Coral bleaching, which occurs when heat drives out algae living within coral tissues, is an indicator of stress that could eventually kill coral populations. The team of international scientists found that warmer waters have killed 80% of some species and predicted that more colonies could die within months. They blamed rising sea surface temperatures in the Andaman Sea Photograph: Heri Juanda/AP

Lightbulb sea squirts (Clavelina lepadiformis) are commonly found on reefs in the south-west of England. The biggest expansion of protection for the birds and sea life that live on the sandbanks, reefs and sea caves around the UK shores was announced this week Photograph: Paul Naylor/Natural England

Trees in Bedgebury Pinetum, close to the Kent-east Sussex border. The pine forest at Bedgebury is owned by government's Forestry Commission, which is facing budget cuts Photograph: David Levene/Guardian

Wild boars in a forest in Eglharting near Munich, southern Germany. Almost a quarter of a century after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in Ukraine, its fallout is still evident in some German regions, where thousands of boars shot by hunters still turn up with excessive levels of radioactivity Photograph: Matthias Schrader/AP