The week in wildlife - in pictures

Environmental groups, including the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), have voiced their opposition to plans by Britain's government to begin culling badgers in order to combat bovine tuberculosis in England's cattle herds Photograph: Nigel Roddis/Reuters

Northern white-cheeked crested gibbon (Nomascus leucogenys). The lively morning calls of a rare species of gibbon has led to the discovery of the only known 'viable' community of these critically endangered primates in the remote forests of Vietnam's Pu Mat national park, Conservation International (CI) says Photograph: Terry Whittaker/Conservation International

An Indian rhinoceros or greater one-horned rhinoceros walks through flood water inside the Pobitora wildlife sanctuary, India. Most parts of the sanctuary, which is a habitat of the rare rhinoceros, are submerged after monsoon floods Photograph: Anupam Nath/AP

A leopard attacks a forest guard at Prakash Nagar village near Salugara on the outskirts of Siliguri. Six people were mauled by the leopard after the big cat strayed into the village area before it was caught by forestry department officials. Forest officials made several attempts to tranquilised the full-grown leopard that was wandering through a part of the densely populated city when curious crowds startled the animal, a wildlife official said Photograph: Diptendu Dutta/AFP/Getty Images

A loris is kept in a wild animal shelter in the People's Park of Zhengzhou, China. The loris, suffering from malnutrition, was found injured in a vegetable field on Tuesday Photograph: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA / Rex Features/Rex Features

Fruit bats hanging from a tree in Gayndah, Queensland. Horses at a number of Queensland and New South Wales locations have been infected with a 'hendra' virus carried by bats which is thought to be spread to horses via half-chewed fruit, or water and food contaminated by bats' droppings Photograph: JOHN WILSON/AFP/Getty Images

An African dwarf tree frog, which is thought to be the source of a salmonella outbreak that caused 240 people to become ill over two years. Officials believe the frogs may still pose a serious health risk Photograph: AP

An elephant walks through a shrub at the Tsavo national park, Kenya. Kenya's president, Mwai Kibaki, ignited nearly five tonnes of ivory stockpiled in the country since being seized in Singapore nearly a decade ago destroying 335 tusks and 42,553 pieces of ivory carvings at the Manyani wildlife rangers training institution in eastern Kenya Photograph: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images

A female polar bear swam for a record-breaking nine days straight, traversing 426 miles of water, a new study says. Polar bears hunt, feed and give birth on ice or on land, and are not naturally aquatic creatures Photograph: USFWS/REUTERS

A fox sleeps besides daffodils in a garden in London. Mothers in urban fox populations decide which cubs must leave the group and find a new territory, a study has found Photograph: Reinhard Krause/Reuters

Customs officers at Jakarta’s Sukarno-Hatta airport seized 1,732 kg of pangolin meat and a further 380 kg of pangolin scales on 10 July. The seizure is the latest in a number of foiled attempts to smuggle pangolins out of Indonesia. Pangolins are being poached for their meat which is consumed as food and used for traditional medicines in the region Photograph: How Hwee Young/EPA

A Cairns birdwing butterfly at Melbourne zoo Photograph: Newspix/ Rex Features

A video grab from footage shot on 1 June shows a dog swimming with sharks before diving underwater, appearing to bite one of them, in the shallow waters in the west Australian town of Broome. Cameraman Russell Hood-Penn captured the moment on film Photograph: Reuters

Conservationists are celebrating a 'success story' for ospreys in Scotland this year. According to Tony Lightly, conservation officer for the Forestry Commission, 20 chicks were reared within the Tweed Valley osprey project zone this year. All of the youngsters will be ringed in order to keep track of their progress and migration. There are currently nine active osprey nests within the Tweed Valley Photograph: Angus Blackburn/Rex Features

An unusual reptile, resembling a cross between a lizard and a snake, seen inside a cage at Kaisone Temple in Phonmee village on the outskirts of Vientiane, Laos. The reptile measures 30cm in length, has short legs, a striped, scaled body like a snake and a thumbnail-sized head. The animal was found by a local farmer near his rice mill. A picture of the reptile has been sent to the Wildlife Conservation Society to determine its species Photograph: STR/EPA

An egret wades along a river bank in Hong Kong Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images