The week in wildlife – in pictures

A deer emerges from the brush to eat leaves at Shi Shi beach in Washington state's Olympic national park. One of the most pristine beaches in Washington state, Shi Shi is home to seals, deer, eagles, otters and skunks Photograph: Manuel Valdes/AP

A common blue damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) hovers over grass as temperatures soared to 40C (105F) along the Treska River near Skopje, Macedonia Photograph: Ognen Teofilovski/Reuters

Wildlife photographer Mike Lane captured common coot (Fulica atra) adults fighting on a lake in Hertfordshire. While they may look like placid creatures, coots are well known for their often vicious territorial fights. The spats start with the dueling pair swimming towards each other at high speed. They then attack one another with their feet, clawing at the other's breast, and stab with their beaks while keeping their wings spread and back to keep their balance Photograph: Mike Lane/Rex Features

An egret is seen against the setting sun at the lakeside of Poyang Lake, east China's Jiangxi province. The summer migratory birds have completed their breeding this summer, making a total of 200,000 birds in the region Photograph: Fu Jianbin/Corbis

A leopard skin burns during an official burning of wildlife contraband, including tiger and leopard skins and bones, by forest officials in Mumbai. The tiger, India's national animal, is disappearing from the country because of rampant poaching and widespread habitat destruction. There are an estimated 1,800 wild tigers in India today, down from approximately 100,000 in 1900 Photograph: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images

A tortoise makes its way through mud in Kfar Kila village near the Lebanese-Israeli border, in south Lebanon Photograph: Ali Hashisho/Reuters

A striped field mouse in a cornfield taken by Grzegorz Lesniewski. More than 20 of the world's top wildlife and environmental photographers will gather in London this autumn to showcase their work and offer insight and advice during classes at the UK's largest wildlife photography show, WildPhotos 2013 Photograph: Grzegorz Lesniewski/WildPhotos 2013

A wolf walks with a set of elk legs in the Hayden Valley after killing and eating it in Yellowstone national park, Wyoming. The return of wolves to Yellowstone may be aiding imperiled grizzly bears by keeping elk herds on the move and preventing them from eating all the berries, a key food for grizzlies, according to a new study Photograph: Jim Urquhart/Reuters

Nastia, a six-month-old female bear cub, lies on a crate in a private zoo in Haisyn, Ukraine. Nastia was rescued from the zoo by Ukrainian authorities and the Four Paws Animal Welfare Foundation after they identified a risk of her being sold for circus or tourist entertainment. Nastia and her mother will be transferred from their temporary home to a brown bear sanctuary in Ukraine Photograph: Mihai Vasile/Four Paws/Reuters

A crab covered in oil is seen at Ao Prao beach in Koh Samet. Crude oil that leaked from a pipeline in the Gulf of Thailand over the weekend has reached a Thai tourist resort. Around 50,000 litres of crude oil has poured into the sea around 20 km (12 miles) off the coast of Rayong, south-east of the capital Bangkok Photograph: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters

A pair of dolphins leaps in the wake of Royal Caribbean cruise line ship Grandeur of the Seas in the Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda and the United States mainland. Carcasses of bottlenose dolphins are washing up on US east coast beaches from New Jersey to Virginia at a higher than normal pace, with more than 120 dead animals discovered since June, local and federal officials say Photograph: Gary Cameron/Reuters

An eagle ray on Lighthouse Reef, Belize. Catlin Seaview Survey team of divers capture a 360-degree panoramic reefscape and explore marine life in the Caribbean Sea Photograph: Catlin Seaview Survey

A meadow brown butterfly. Each year a fiercely contested competition between butterfly experts takes place in order to highlight the plight of the butterfly and draw attention to the Big Butterfly Count Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

A tigress with cubs, Chitwan national park, Nepal. The number of Royal Bengal tigers living in the wild in Nepal has reached 198, government officials said this week, releasing the results of a major survey showing a dramatic rise Photograph: Nepalese Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation

Zoologists are puzzled by the strange behaviour of hamadryas baboons at the Emmen zoo in in the Netherlands. Usually, they are very active and spread over the whole playing area. But this week they appear to have been struck by mass apathy, sitting still, huddled together in fear and hardly eating Photograph: Vincent Jannink/AFP/Getty Images

A Florida lubber grasshopper in the Everglades national park. Seasonal rains bring higher water levels within the Everglades, causing wildlife such as alligators to disperse and be seen less frequently Photograph: J Pat Carter/AP

When wildlife photographer Mircea Costina started snapping this peregrine falcon searching for prey, he didn't expect the hunter to become the hunted. A brave American robin swooped into his frame and buzzed the female falcon as it perched on a rock in the Bay of Fundy, Canada. Mircea explains: 'This female Falcon perched on the rock looking for some prey. I was very happy to take some pictures of this elusive species. Suddenly, I saw the falcon looking on the sky and in the next second, a brave robin attacked the raptor. It was a surprise attack and the falcon gave up and flew away. After that, I realised that the robin nest was too close from the perched rock and the mother robin was only trying to protect her family. A rare situation when the predator was defeated by the prey' Photograph: Mircea Costina/Rex Features

Webber's ivesia, a member of the rose family, near Peavine, California. Webber's ivesia, a ground-hugging member of the rose family only found on about 2,000 acres in western Nevada and eastern California, was proposed for listing as a threatened species this week by the US Fish and Wildlife Service Photograph: Sarah Kulpa/USFWS/AP