The week in wildlife – in pictures

A tree is surrounded by water in the centre of Worcester after the
River Severn burst its banks. Flood water levels are decreasing after storms Ciara and Dennis, however forecasters are predicting more rain and 70mph winds this weekend from Storm Jorge

An old pheasant cock – a survivor of the shooting season that ended on 1 February – basks in the sunshine in Whitewell, Lancashire.
Wild Justice, a campaign group, has issued a legal case against the government to try to halt the release of more than 50 million non-native game birds this summer amid concerns they could damage Britain’s most important wildlife sites

An artwork at Bristol’s Arnolfini gallery,
Wildlife on the Waterfront, tells the story of people and wildlife in Uganda’s oldest national park. It was created by the charity Send a Cow, in partnership with the African conservation charity Tusk and Bristol’s Limbic Cinema

The first flowers of the peach tree bloom in the village of Clonas Sur Vareze, Isere, France

Frozen Mobile Home by Greg Lecoeur (France), taken in Antarctica.
Underwater photographer of the year 2020 and wide angle category winner

A polar bear (
Ursus maritimus) dives for a piece of meat at the Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden.
Cases of polar bears killing and eating each other are on the rise in the Arctic as melting ice and human activity erode their habitat, according to a Russian expert

Orphan elephant calves are fed a special formula at the Reteti elephant sanctuary in Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy, central Kenya

Ivory tusks confiscated by Thai customs authorities in Bangkok

Concentrated patches of life around hydrothermal vents are as densely, if not as diversely, populated as coral reefs. But these rare and vital ecosystems are under serious threat from deep-sea mining for minerals such as zinc, used for car batteries and mobile phone circuit boards, say campaigners

A new sea snail species found 60 metres deep, off the coast of Lanzarote, Canary Islands

P-22, the
‘Brad Pitt of mountain lions‘, caught on remote camera with Los Angeles in the background

A flock of greylag geese and greater white-fronted geese gather in Hortobagy, Hungary

Signs of regrowth are seen in the blue gum forest west of Parndana, Australia. More than a third of Kangaroo Island, including much of the Flinders Chase national park, was affected by bushfires

A blossoming greater pasque flower (
Pulsatilla grandis) near Salgotarjan in the north of Hungary

Wildlife experts from Four Paws International and other volunteers undertake a medical examination on a
malnourished lion at the Al-Qureshi park in Khartoum, Sudan

The 250-year-old Cubbington pear tree, thought to be the second-largest wild pear tree in the UK, in ancient woodland in South Cubbington Wood, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

A ”
no-take zone” near the coast Isle of Arran, implemented in 2008 after a community-based campaign to lobby the Scottish government, has been a huge success, according to a report that shows a substantial increase in biodiversity. Queen scallops are among the species thriving in the Lamlash Bay

Hippos submerged in a lake at the Hacienda Napoles Park in Puerto Triunfo, Colombia. The animals, originally brought to Colombia by the late drug baron Pablo Escobar as part of his personal zoo, have been taking over the countryside near his former ranch, leaving farmers and fisherman fearing for their safety

Wild western lowland gorillas have been pictured in central Rio Muni, Equatorial Guinea, for the first time in more than a decade in a project spearheaded by Bristol Zoological Society. Images caught by camera traps show curious youngsters deep in their jungle home

A hummingbird in a flower garden on the outskirts of Mexico City

Desert locusts swarm on a tree in Bilayolo village in Kitgum district, Uganda

A dwarf siren salamander aglow with bioflourescence. Research suggests the ability to emit the flourescent glow after absorbing light energy may be widespread in amphibians including salamanders and frogs

A seafood market worker wears a mask in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China,
amid fears of coronavirus