The week in wildlife – in pictures

Black-necked cranes wandering in a pond at a nature reserve in Bijie in China

A herd of deer is seen grazing just after sunrise at the Oxbow Nature Conservancy in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, US

Monkeys relax on a roof under the sun on a cold winter morning in New Delhi, India

Swans pass the overflowing River Severn in Worcester, UK, after persistent rain during the weekend

Cashmere goats graze on foliage as they wander above the beach in Bournemouth, UK. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole councils began their goat grazing scheme in 2020. The aim is to encourage feral goats to manage vegetation along the cliff tops naturally. Grazing by livestock is seen as the only long-term and viable solution for cliff management. Goats are very effective at controlling the growth of holm oak, the most harmful of the invasive exotic shrubs and trees on the cliffs, and there has also been an increase in butterflies, lizards and native grassland cover

An Australian rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus Moluccanus) perched on a tree in Adelaide, Australia

A honey bee collecting nectar and pollen from a flower in Nagaon district, in the north-eastern state of Assam, India

A migratory Eurasian griffon vulture recovers at the Jivdaya charitable trust in Ahmedabad after being rescued by the Dhrangadhra forest department in Gujarat, India

Camels walk along the dunes as drivers compete during stage 5 of the Dakar 2023 around Ha’il, Saudi Arabia

A porcelain crab on an anemone at night under Baсong Pier, Philippines. One of the winners of the Close Up Photographer of the Year 2023

The rising sun warms the deer in Randers Dyrehave by Fladbro in Jutland, Denmark

Critically endangered Verreaux’s sifaka. A new study suggests it may take about 23m years for evolution to replace Madagascar’s endangered mammals if they go extinct. More than half of the mammals (120 species) in Madagascar are included on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. About 90% of plant and animal species on this island cannot be found anywhere else on Earth

A common iora (Aegithina tiphia) bird backflips like a gymnast for insect prey in a neem tree or Indian lilac (Azadirachta indica). They are usually hidden in the leaves and are so similar to the greenish-yellow leaf’s colour that they are difficult to find easily. They can only be identified by their variable chirrs or twiii tuiii twiiii chirping. This passerine bird is seen in wooded areas, scrub and cultivated lands of the tropical Indian subcontinent and south-east Asia

A black squirrel in Pacific Grove, California

A grey seal pup and its mother are seen on Horsey Gap, near Horsey, on the Norfolk coast, UK

A male northern cardinal (Cardinalidae) perched in a tree in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Walrus on a beach in Svalbard, Norway. People are being asked to become walrus detectives and search for the Arctic creatures in satellite images to help with their conservation. To try to help them, conservation charity WWF and the British Antarctic Survey are asking the public to take part in their Walrus from Space project

A stork rests on a road light as starlings fly at the sky behind it near the southern city of Beer Sheva, Israel

An American bald eagle is seen hunting at the Fernald nature preserve in Ross, Ohio, US

Wild boars feed from garbage bins in the luxury residential district of the Peak in Hong Kong. According to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department there are between 2,000 and 3,000 wild boars in Hong Kong. They tend to remain hidden in wooded areas, but often venture out for food, sometimes foraging through garbage bins, barbecue sites and are sometimes illegally fed by humans