The week in wildlife – in pictures
A newborn seal pup, a lake turned pink with flamingos and tortoises hitching a ride feature in this week’s pick of images from the natural world
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A mass take-off of pink-footed geese. The Scottish Wildlife Trust announced a record number of more than 70,000 of the birds at the Montrose Basin Wildlife Reserve this week.
Photograph: Scottish Wildlife Trust/PA
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Autumn trees are reflected in the waters of artificial Lake Solina in Chrewt, Poland, in the Bieszczady Mountains region.
Photograph: Darek Delmanowicz/EPA
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A mother polar bear and her two cubs traverse the ice in Nunavut, Canada.
Photograph: Justin Hofman/Barcroft Media
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The flock of flamingos at Lake Nakuru in Kenya. The brightly coloured birds congregate in their thousands, transforming the skyline as far as the eye can see.
Photograph: Andrey Gudkov/Caters News Agency
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A rare baby diademed sifaka lemur peaks out from its mother’s lap, almost hidden in the canopy of a lowland rainforest of Madagascar, the only island where lemurs can be found. They are critically endangered due to habitat destruction and hunting.
Photograph: Hery Randriahaingo/Aspinall Foundation
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Dead birds caught in a trap at Nitaipukhuri in Sivasagar, Assam, India. People in Assam continue to earn their living from trapping the birds which damage crops, despite this traditional method being outlawed.
Photograph: Luit Chaliha/Barcroft India
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Photo issued by the RSPB of an adult male yellow wagtail as the latest annual State of the UK’s Birds report has shown that migratory birds which travel thousands of miles to Africa each winter have seen populations tumble in the last few decades.
Photograph: Andy Hay/RSPB/PA
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Odani sawmill, located in Placas, Pará in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, is linked with logging and processing of illegal timber. An investigation by Greenpeace used covert GPS locator beacons to monitor logging trucks.
Photograph: Lunae Parracho/Greenpeace
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Starlings in the sky at Gretna Green, on the border between England and Scotland. Scientists have launched a citizen survey to understand why starlings perform their murmuration displays.
Photograph: Rick Harrison/Green Shoots/Flickr
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The first seal pup born this year on the Farne Islands, off of the Northumberland coast, England.
Photograph: National Trust
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Eurasian brown bear at a bear-watching site in Sinca Noua, Piatra Craiului national park, Southern Carpathians, Romania. There have been calls to recruit the army in Transylvania’s bear wars.
Photograph: Staffan Widstrand/Rewilding Europe
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Two red deer stags battle in Bushy Park, London, UK.
Photograph: Richard Bowler/Rex Features
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A giant poster urging people to stop using endangered rhino horns in Hanoi, Vietnam. It reads: “Rhino horns are just like buffalo horns, human hair and nails. Do not waste your money.” Demand for the horns has dropped in Vietnam in response to the campaign but their population continues to dwindle because of aggressive poaching.
Photograph: Kham/Reuters
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A herd of elephants gather at a watering hole in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. The watering hole was one of several that were contaminated by poachers with cyanide in 2013, leading to the death of at least 100 animals, according to Zimbabwean authorities.
Photograph: Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters
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Sunset reflected in a lake in Milverton in Somerset, England.
Photograph: Barcroft Media
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A well camouflaged dog-faced water snake (Cerberus rynchops) waits patiently for prey in a water hole on the mud flats of Henry Island in West Bengal, India.
Photograph: Arkaprava Ghosh/Barcroft India
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Three-week-old baby sulcata tortoises hitch a ride on their mother’s back at the Lake District wildlife park near Keswick. It’s the first time the wildlife park has successfully bred Africa’s largest tortoise.
Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
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