Nature and Wildlife Pictures of the Week
Monday, March 11th, 2013
Lion cub soaking up the last ray of sunshine
by Calvin Kotze Photography
https://www.facebook.com/CalvinKotzePhotography

Thousands of cranes pass through the Israeli skies twice a year and use Hula Lake as a stopover while travelling between Europe and Africa
Picture: CATERS

Kelly Brown / The Buffalo Zoo
Little white bundle of love
A polar bear cub is photographed by the Buffalo Zoo on March 1.The cub was born on November 27th to mother Anana, sired by Nanuq, and has been hand raised by the Zoo’s veterinary technician and keeper staff. Though the cub is currently too small to go on exhibit for the public, she is visible within the zoo on a closed-circuit television.

Tapir toddler
Malayan tapir ‘Laila’ watches her male offspring nibbling on leaves at their enclosure at the zoo in Leipzig, Germany, on March 2.
Marc Tirl / EPA

Tiny turtle
An Indonesian worker holds a sea turtle hatchling at a conservation center in Serangan, Indonesia, on March 1.
by Made Nagi / EPA

All eyes ahead
An eagle owl is seen at the Schwarze Berge wildlife park in Hamburg, northern Germany, on February 28.
by Sven Hoppe / AFP – Getty Images

Face palm!!
An oriental small-clawed otter plays in its enclosure at the Schwarze Berge wildlife park in Hamburg, northern Germany, on February 28. All of the park’s animals were counted, measured and weighed during an annual inventory.
by Sven Hoppe / AFP – Getty Images
- Comb Duck, Juvenile by Tony Faria
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonif/8173210485 -
This is an Oarfish, one of the longest fish in the world. They are mysterious and rarely seen alive..
Get your ducks in a row
Egyptian goslings swim in a pond in Frankfurt, Germany, on Feb. 27.
Image by Frank Rumpenhorst / EPAYoung tigers, Zürich Zoo, Switzerland
by Tambako Photography
https://www.facebook.com/tambakophotographyHappy Hoppers!!
One month-old male triplet bilby joeys make their first appearance at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast, Queensland, on March 6. The Bilby, a nocturnal marsupial, is listed as endangered in Queensland and a vulnerable nationally.
by Dan Peled / EPA- Rainbow Jelly
A northern sea nettle swims as part of the new jellyfish exhibition ‘Jellyfish Discovery’ at the SeaLife Aquarium in Timmendorfer, Germany on Feb. 26.
by Jens Buttner / AFP – Getty Images
British angler Steve Townson achieved a lifelong ambition when he landed this massive wild arapaima estimated at 250lbs from Middle River Essequibo in Guyana, South America. Steve, who has travelled the world catching exotic fish and who runs UK-based company Amazon-Angler.com – a company specialising in South American angling holidays – caught the mighty fish, plus another weighing around 150lb, on a whole 2lb piranha bait. The arapaima is one of the world’s biggest and mightiest freshwater fish and to catch them in the wild is a rare privilege, said Steve.
Picture: Gareth Purnell / Rex FeaturesA web-footed gecko licks its eyeball in the Namib desert of Namibia. The elusive reptile spends most of the day buried in the sand, and uses its long tongue to both clean its eyes of dust and drink the moisture which collects on its eyes when the morning mist rolls in from the sea.
Picture: Martin Harvey / Barcroft MediaThis little echidna is lucky to be alive after being found wandering down the middle of the street in Victoria, Australia. Megan Wilson first spotted the spiky creature and scooped him up and took him to the Healesville Animal Sanctuary.
Picture: Jay Town/Newspix / Rex FeaturesThe vulnerable mackerel instinctively cluster together seeking safety in numbers from the hungry predators
Picture: Christopher Swann/SPL/Barcroft MediaIt was only when the photographer looked at this picture later that she spotted this great horned owl had a baby, tucked tightly into the feathers on its tummy. It was taken by wildlife photographer Marina Scarr in Fort De Soto Park, Florida.
Picture: MARINA SCARR / CATERS NEWSA jackal and a vulture fight for food in the Giant’s Castle Nature Reserve in the Drakensberg region of South Africa. Wildlife photographer Mitchell Krog captured the fighting as the creatures scrapped over scattered bones…
Picture: Mitchell Krog/mitchellkrog.com / Rex Features…Mitchell Krog also captured a group of black-backed jackals that arrived on top of the mountain in the late afternoon to come and steal the meaty bones that were placed out for the vultures.
Picture: Mitchell Krog/mitchellkrog.com/Rex FeaturesA swan swims in the early spring sun at the inner city harbour in Berlin
Picture: Markus Schreiber/AP- Polar Bear Cub
by Nicholas Zynovev
www.nikzinoviev.com
Blue Askew
Geronimo, a young cougar (Puma concolor) at Jungle Cat World, has some of the most captivating blue eyes you will ever see in an animal. Even the folks at the zoo took note.
by Eric ‘Kuba’ Ash
http://hewhowalkswithtigers.deviantart.com/art/Blue-Askew-168354074A battle scarred male southern elephant seal rolls in the waves at Gold Harbour, South Georgia
Photograph: Justin Hofman/Barcroft MediaMahaveer Tigress
by Wilder Pixels
Please guys SAVE these wonders of Nature because they are one of a kind and wont come back once they get extinct !This Margay Cat (c) never stopped walking up and down the limbs in it’s enclosure at the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. Margay Cats are small wild cats that spend most of their lives up in the trees. Often confused with their slightly large cousins the Ocelot’s they have specialized ankle joints that allow the Margay to make 180 degree turns on the branches of trees and lets them move through the treetops very much like squirrels do where as Ocelots rarely leave the ground.
by Hali SowleRhino Portrait , Botswana
by Gunther Wegner
http://gwegner.de/blog/afrika-hautnah-unsere-botswana-reise/Meet the woman on a mission to dispel the myths about one of the world’s most feared ocean predators – by swimming with great white sharks without protection. Shark conservationist Ocean Ramsey said: “It’s difficult to express the incredible joy and breathtaking emotion experienced locking eyes with a great white shark. Watching the shark acknowledge and observe me, while I peacefully and calmly allowed it to swim towards me, and then experiencing it accepting my touch. The connection I felt as I repeatedly petted and hitched a ride on these sharks reminded me of my experience with horses. A lot can be said between two creatures that don’t speak the same language.”
Picture: JUAN OLIPHANT / CATERS NEWSWhale Kiss
A humpback whale mother swims with her calf, appearing to give her baby a tender kiss on the head. Professional photographer Jon Cornforth captured the touching moment off the coast of Tonga in the Southern Pacific Ocean.
Picture: Jon Cornforth / Barcroft MediaSolheimajokull Glacier in Iceland is photographed by Marketa Kalvachova, who has been dubbed the real-life Ice Queen after dedicating her life to taking spectacular pictures of glaciers and icebergs.
Picture: MARKETA KALVACHOVA / CATERS NEWSFour bear cubs climb up a tree for safety as an alpha male approaches them. Fearing for her cub’s lives the mother bear urged them to scramble up the nearest tree trunk while she kept watch on the ground. The scene was captured by photographer Lauri Tammik in woods in north Finland.
Picture: Lauri Tammik/Rex Features- You invaded my territory, lower zambezi, Zambia
by Nicole Cambré Photography
www.withinafrica.com
https://www.facebook.com/NicoleCambrePhotography
Leopard Portrait, South Luangwa, Zambia
by Nicole Cambré Photography
www.withinafrica.com
https://www.facebook.com/NicoleCambrePhotographyClash of the Titans, Chobe, Botswana
by Nicole Cambré Photography
www.withinafrica.com
https://www.facebook.com/NicoleCambrePhotographyLion Cubs, Kenya XXXVlll
by *serhatdemiroglu
http://serhatdemiroglu.deviantart.com/art/Kenya-XXXVlll-196032200Lions Cubs, Kenya II
by *serhatdemiroglu
http://serhatdemiroglu.deviantart.com/art/Kenya-XLl-198832846Peek-a-Wu!
Xiao Liwu the Panda Cub at San Diego Zoo
by Penny Hyde Photography
http://pennyhyde.zenfolio.com/High Five!
Xiao Liwu the Panda Cub at San Diego Zoo
by Penny Hyde Photography
http://pennyhyde.zenfolio.com/Handsome boy
Tikal the Jaguar Cub at 7 and a half months at San Diego Zoo
by Penny Hyde Photography
http://pennyhyde.zenfolio.com/Wait, that’s not a trunk!! Have you ever seen an elephant penis? Now you have
This is a bull elephant firmly establishing why it is he, and not the lion, who is king of beasts. The elephant’s penis is not only massive but prehensile. As we watched in baffled amusement (and the faintest tinge of inadequacy), he used his penis to prop himself up (as in the photo), swat flies from his side and scratch himself on his stomach. David Attenborough never showed us that…
There’s good reason for elephants to have prehensile penises. It’s hard enough for a six-tonne animal to get into the right position for sex, let alone having to do the rhythmic thrusting that’s required. So he let’s his penis do all the work for him.
via Nat Geo - Rainbow Jelly