The week in wildlife – in pictures

A bee gathers nectar from new blooms at the national botanic garden of Wales near Carmarthen Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

A red kite, Wales. The birds of prey were saved from national extinction by one of the world's longest running protection programmes, and have now been successfully reintroduced to England and Scotland Photograph: Drew Buckley/Rex Features

Red deer on Pfänder mountain near Bregenz, Austria Photograph: Felix Kaestle/EPA

Play-fighting stoats were among the winning images from the Mammal Society photographer of the year competition Photograph: Joel Walley/Mammal Society Photographer of the Year 2013

A three-year-old orangutan and Thai worker at a private zoo in Bangkok, Thailand. More than 3,000 wild great apes are illegally seized in African and south-east Asia each year, conservationists say. This week 178 nations met in Bangkok to review the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), that protects around 35,000 animals and plants Photograph: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA

Small plastic bags holding fish, turtles and salamanders on sale in Beijing. Each bag, filled with oxygen and nutritional liquid, can keep the animal alive for two months and is sold for $1.60. The Chinese believe such charms can bring good luck Photograph: Kim Kyung-hoon/Reuters

A heron builds a nest in Sujiayingzi, in north-east China's Liaoning province. There are more than 600 heron nests in the village Photograph: Bai Tiejun/Corbis

A female humpback whale swims with her calf off the coast of Vava'u Islands, Tonga Photograph: Jon Cornforth/Barcroft Media

Indonesian fishermen unload a catch that includes sharks and baby sharks in Lampulo fish market in Banda Aceh. Humans kill about 100 million sharks each year, mostly for their fins, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation Photograph: Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP/Getty Images

Stranded polar bears on Cross Island outside Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The export of polar bear skins, teeth and paws from Canada will continue unabated after a bitter debate at the world's biggest wildlife summit ended in defeat for a US proposal to outlaw the trade Photograph: Will Rose and Kajsa Sjölander/70° North/Greenpeace

A Corsac fox in north-west China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region Photograph: Shen Qiao/Corbis

A male southern elephant seal revels in the wave wash at Gold Harbour, South Georgia, Antarctica Photograph: Justin Hofman/Barcroft Media

Migrant birds fly over the Poyang Lake in east China's Jiangxi province Photograph: Fu Jianbin/Corbis

Locusts on a sand dune in Negev Desert, southern Israel, near the border with Egypt. Israel is battling a swarm of locusts from Egypt to prevent crop damage in the south of the country. Locust clouds were darkening skies on Wednesday, three weeks before the Jewish Passover holiday that recalls 10 Biblical plagues, one of them locusts, that struck Egypt during the exodus of Israelite slaves Photograph: Ariel Schalit/AP

Two wild Sumatran elephants eat palm oil leaves in a private palm oil plantation in East Aceh, Indonesia. Critically endangered, less than 3,000 Sumatran elephants remain in the wild. The race to protect the world's rhino, elephant and shark populations from the bloody trade in animal body parts have been at the heart of Cites endangered species talks in Bangkok
Photograph: S. ADITYA/AFP/Getty Images

A giant manta ray, photographed 13 miles south of Mirissa, Sri Lanka. With a wingspan of nearly 5 metres, this ray could fetch up to $800 on the black market for its gills alone. At least 3,500 manta ray kills are recorded each year, according the wildlife trade group Traffic, but the real total is likely to be nearer 5,000 Photograph: Andrew Sutton/WDC

A web-footed gecko in the dry Namib desert of Namibia uses its long tongue to drink the moisture from its own eyes Photograph: Martin Harvey/Barcroft Media

Oriental pied hornbills at the Jurong bird park's breeding and research centre in Singapore Photograph: Wong Maye-E/AP