Nature & Wildlife Pictures of the week
Saturday, May 25th, 2013
Photographer Ronald Wittek from Speyer, Germany photographed this group of marmots eating biscuits in the Hohe Tauern National Park in Austria
Picture: Ronald Wittek/Solent

A two-month-old snow fox cub lies inside a cage at the Royev Ruchey zoo on the surburbs of Russia’s Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk
Picture: REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin

A pair of Canada geese swim with their newborn gosling in a pond along the eighth-hole fairway of Qualchan Golf Course in Spokane, Wash.
Picture: AP Photo/The Spokesman-Review, Colin Mulvany

An adult owl marches about the countryside looking for food to feed its brood of hungry owlets on a farm in Lancashire. The bizarre scene was captured by keen snapper Austin Thomas who had to stay camouflaged and stop himself from laughing in case he scared the funny birds and missed out on getting the shots.
Picture: AUSTIN THOMAS / CATERS NEWS

Two-month-old Bengal tiger cub Tily at the animal refuge La Fundación Refugio Salvaje (Furesa) in La Libertad on the outskirts of San Salvador. The refuge takes care of species in danger of extinction
Photograph: ULISES RODRIGUEZ/REUTERS

An elephant showers a leopard with water to protect the herd. The leopard had been stalking the herd of around 15 elephants when one decided to frighten it off. The picture was taken by Mark Muller in Etosha National Park of Namibia at the Kalkeuwel waterhole.
Picture: MARK VINCENT MULLER / CATERS NEWS

Panda sleeps in a tree at the Panda Valley Park in Dujiangyan, Sichuan Province, China
Picture: Quirky China News / Rex Features

The Black Dam Pride of lions play in Kruger National Park, South Africa. The intimate shots of the pride were captured by photographer Tom Coetzee.
Picture: Tom Coetzee / Barcroft Media

Photographer Rainer Schimpf photographing sharks off the coast of Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Picture: Rainer Schimpf / Barcroft Me
- Pink Panther at Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa by Deon De Villiers
Tourists had reported seeing the fashion-forward feline, but only recently Deon De Villiers, a photographer and safari guide, caught the kitty on film. He sent the photo to Panthera, a wild cat conservation group.
The light-furred leopard may have erythrism said Panthera’s president, Luke Hunter, in National Geographic. Erythrism is a genetic condition believed to cause production of either too much red or too little dark pigment.
“It’s really rare — I don’t know of another credible example in leopards,” said Hunter.
The leopard doesn’t seem to be suffering from his condition.
“He’s obviously a successful animal,” Hunter said.
The danger is if he leaves the borders of the preserve. Then his pale pelt could end up as a trophy hunter’s prize.
Photo: Fair-furred leopard. Courtesy of Deon De Villiers of SafaGraphics.

Lions cubs welcome dad home….
by Chad Cocking Wildlife Photography

Tingana Leopadess relaxing in a marula tree, Timbavati, South Africa
by Chad Cocking Wildlife Photography

Contemplative Cat!!
Riki-san the Clouded Leopard Cub at San Diego Zoo
by Penny Hyde Photography

Motswari Leopard!!
A male Leopard known as Makepesi poses elegantly. Image taken in Motswari Private Game Reserve in the heart of the Timbavati Nature Reserve in South Africa. BOOK NOW ! to join their next “Big Cats” photo safari at www.southcapeimages.com
by MARIOMORENO Photography

Ramtastic Horns!
They don’t call them rams for nothing.
by Rinus Bakker Photography

White Lion nr Timbavati River Lodge, Timbavati Wildlife Park.
Courtesy of Harold Weitsz Photography
http://www.wildlifeoncanvas.smugmug.com/

Forest elephants gather at Dzanga Bai clearing in the Dzanga-Sangha reserve, in Central African Republic. Elephant meat is flooding food markets in villages near the famed wildlife reserve in Central African Republic one month after rebels believed to be involved in poaching overthrew the government, conservationists said
Photograph: Carlos Drews/AP/WWF-Canon

Brink of Extinction!
Barbary Lion (aka Atlas Lion aka Nubian Lion), at Port Lympne Wildlife Park in Kent , UK
by Ashley Vincent

A six-month-old orangutan rescued from a pet owner learns to climb a tree while undergoing rehabilitation at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program quarantine area in Sibolangit village in Indonesia’s Sumatra island
Photograph: Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images

A newborn common wombat (Vombatus ursinus) baby peeking out from its mother’s pouch in the Budapest Zoo, Hungary. The baby was born in winter and is a big sensation as a wombat cub hasn’t been born in European zoos in 20 years, and outside Australia only 22 wombats live in 12 zoos
Photograph: Attila Kovacs/EPA

A giant panda rests on a tree in Ya’an, Sichuan province, China
Photograph: Reuters

A Kirk’s dik-dik, a small antelope found in eastern and southwestern Africa, in Kenya’s Samburu National Reserve
Photograph: Zhang Chen/Barcroft Media

A group of giraffes in the Samburu National Reserve, Kenya
Photograph: Zhang Chen/Corbis

A hare in a field near Hanover, central Germany
Photograph: Julian Stratenschulte/AFP/Getty Images

A white stork transports material for its nest in Luetzelsee, Switzerland
Photograph: Steffen Schmidt/EPA