Animals In News

A falcon attacks a falcon-like kite during the International Kite Festival in Ahmadabad, India WIlly the polar bear plays with a yellow crate while swimming at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro These playful baby bears were snapped at the Bear Country park in South Dakota Each morning the damp forested slopes of the volcanic Virunga Mountains in Rwanda are blanketed in mist. This event, and the gorillas who call the slopes home, became famous thanks to gorilla expert Dian Fossey's book and the subsequent film 'Gorillas in the Mist' As the sole survivor of the litter, things looked bleak for Alphie the piglet after his mother abandoned him. Realising that intervention would be the only way that he would stand a chance of survival owner Claire De Beer and her daughter decided to bottle feed Alphie themselves As her own demanding schedule started to take it's toll, Claire began to wonder if her cat Jinx, who had recently had kittens herself, might shoulder some of the responsibility. Within hours of bringing them together Jinx and Alphie had bonded and Alphie found himself with a brand new family The first ever Gelada baboon has been born at Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent. Howletts is one of only three other zoos in the UK to breed Gelada baboons meaning this birth is a first for Kent and a significant achievement for the conservation of this rare primate Keepers give physiotherapy to an 11-week-old tiger cub with paralysed hind legs, Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany... Eleven-week old Ranga was born healthy but recently keepers were shocked to discover he had lost the use of his back legs. It is feared that the youngster's mother Cindy may inadvertently have injured the cub, leading to the paralysis. In a bid to get the young cub's legs working again keepers at the zoo have embarked on a careful course of physiotherapy This black spider monkey was orphaned at three days old when its mother was killed by hunters. It was handed over to a rescue centre in Serere, located at the heart of the Amazon basin in Bolivia, by a kind poacher with a conscience A 5-year-old terrier dog and an 8-week-old kitten, which were found abandoned outside a factory in Melbourne, Victoria, have formed a special friendship at the Pet's Haven Animal Shelter in Woodend, with the dog taking on the role of mother to the kitten, allowing it to suckle from her An 8-day-old giant anteater sleeps on the back of his mother at the Santafe Zoo in Medellin, Colombia This baby wild boar is the first piglet to be born to proud parents Pru and Sydney and marked the New Year in style by arriving on New Year's Day at the Wildwood Trust park in Kent. The baby is as yet unnamed until its sex can be determined Baby Zebra Kamalu plays in his enclosure at Canberra Zoo and Aquarium. Kamalu, meaning Warrior in Swahili, is the 9th Zebra to be born in eight years as part of the Zoo's breeding program Pounding through the caustic waters of Lake Nakuru, Kenya, the determined hyena failed ten times before catching his dinner Three lionesses pounce on a crocodile in dramatic scenes after the killer reptile attempted to attack one of the pride's cubs. The protective females leapt into action to fend off the aggressive crocodile after it had attempted to pick off the youngster. With organised precision, the lionesses surrounded the scaly invader and launched a ferocious volley of blows. During the violent encounter the crocodile managed to bite one of the big cats but was soon killed by the pride A snarling mexican grey wolf at the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois Animal trainer Sascha Prehn walks tigress Sina in Berkentin, Germany. Since locals complained, Mr Prehn only takes Sina for walks in less densely populated areas A diver wearing a rabbit costume poses with a turtle during a New Year event at an aquarium in Seoul. According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2011 is the year of the Rabbit Underwater film maker Roger Munns films a humpback whale calf swimming through the ocean off Toku, Vava'u, Tonga A hippo breathes underwater in its tank at Berlin zoo A southern pochard duck stands on the head of a hippo at Berlin zoo A seagull lands on a man's head while he feeds the birds on the Inner Alster Lake in Hamburg, Germany Vets Shelley Davis and Michael Pyne check a 3 metre carpet python which was found in the engine compartment of a Toyota Landcruiser A group of hungry ants clamour to get their jaws around a piece of chocolate brownie left by photographer Andiyan Lutfi in his garden in Indonesia Two ring-tailed lemurs enjoy some salad at the Hagenbeck zoo in Hamburg A macaque drinks a probiotic yoghurt drink as it scavenges for food at a country park in Hong Kong Brown bears playing in the snow at Bronx Zoo in New York City