AP Photo/Jefri Tarigan
A pangolin is released into the wild by Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) officials at a conservation forest in Sibolangit, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Friday, March 1, 2013. The anteater is part of 128 pangolins confiscated by customs officers from a smuggler's boat off Sumatra island as it was heading for Malaysia last week.
AFP PHOTO / PATRICK PLEUL
An alpaca looks into a camera at the Alpaca Park in Arendsee, on February 11, 2013. He and his wife have been breeding alpacas since 2005 in Arendsee.
Meet Werner Freund, 79, a former German paratrooper, who established Wolfspark Werner Freund wolf sanctuary in 1972 and has raised more than 70 animals over the last 40 years. The wolves, acquired as cubs from zoos or animal parks, were mostly hand-reared. Spread over 25 acres, Wolfspark is currently home to 29 wolves forming six packs from European, Siberian, Canadian, Artic and Mongolian regions. Werner has to behave as the wolf alpha male of the pack to earn the other wolves respect and to be accepted.
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Mongolian wolf Heiko licks the mouth of wolf researcher Werner Freund in a sign of acknowledgement.
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Wolf researcher Werner Freund feeds Arctic wolves with meat with his mouth.
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
An Arctic wolf howls while standing in its enclosure.
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Wolf researcher Werner Freund feeds Arctic wolves with meat in an enclosure at Wolfspark Werner Freund, in Merzig in the German province of Saarland.
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Wolf researcher Werner Freund poses for a portrait.
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Arctic wolves stand in an enclosure.
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Wolf researcher Werner Freund howls while sitting in an enclosure for Arctic wolves.
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Arctic wolves stand in an enclosure.
REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Wolf researcher Werner Freund, his wife Erika and their cat Max sit in the living room of their home near Wolfspark Werner Freund, in Merzig in the German province of Saarland.
Enjoy this selection of my favourites of The Daily Beast from 2012. Wishing you all the best of the season.
The Daily Beast returns January 7, 2012.
REUTERS/Phil Noble
An Asian short-clawed otter eats a fish in its enclosure at Chester Zoo in Chester, northern England, January 5, 2012. The smallest of the world's otter species are part of a breeding programme at the zoo as they are classed as being vulnerable in the wild.
Seth Casteel/TandemStock.com
A black Labrador retriever says hello.
Dog plus ball equals game of fetch. Add water to the equation and it unleashes Fido’s inner beast — a canine return to a more primal chase-and-capture instinct captured through animal "lifestyle" photographer Seth Casteel’s submerged camera in backyard pools.
Humbree family photo
Lucas Hembree hugs Juno, his Belgian Maliois service dog that was rescued from a shelter when she was days away from being euthanized. Lucas, 4, from Alcoa, Tennessee has a very rare genetic disorder called Sanfilippo (pronounced San-fa-lee-po) Syndrome or also know as MPS III type A.Newspix / Rex Features
It was a race against the tide that pulled at the heartstrings. For three hours, show horse Astro was stuck neck deep in thick mud at Avalon Beach on Corio Bay, Australia as the tide inched closer.
Rescue crews first tried to pull the 18-year-old, 500kg horse free with fire hoses, and then a winch before a vet turned up to sedate Astro and pull him clear with a tractor.
The crews knew by 5pm that the tide would have come all the way in. But within minutes of the waters rising around him, Astro was being dragged up on to solid ground slowly but surely - the team filthy but ecstatic.
U.K. based photographers and brothers, Will Burrard-Lucas and Matt Burrard-Lucas embarked on a project to get unique close-up, ground level photographs of African wildlife in 2009. They built the BeetleCam - a remote controlled buggy with a DSLR camera mounted on top. Matt and Will travelled to Tanzania and used the buggy to get groundbreaking photographs of elephants and buffalo. However, they lost a camera and the BeetleCam was almost destroyed in the only encounter with a lion.
In 2011, two new BeetleCams were created, one with more advanced capabilities and one with an armoured shell. They returned to Africa to photograph the lions of the Masai Mara. BeetleCam received a battering but it survived, providing a spectacular portfolio of lion photographs, like this portrait of a male lion covered in flies.
AP Photo/Appeal-Democrat, David Bitton
On tippee toes; a duckling tries to navigate its way over a curb near Ellis Lake in Marysville, California.
Matt Marriott/Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
Busch Gardens Tampa celebrated a
milestone anniversary for a very special relationship. April 16th
marked the one-year anniversary of the first time park guests got to see
an 8-week-old male cheetah cub and a 16-week-old female yellow Labrador
puppy start to strike up a friendship that the park’s animal experts
expect to last a lifetime.
CU Independent/Andy Duann
A bear that wandered into the CU-Boulder dorm complex Williams Village falls from a tree after being tranquilized by Colorado Wildlife officials. CU Police Spokesman Ryan Huff said the bear was likely 1-3 years old and weighed somewhere between 150-200 pounds.
AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson
In this combination photo, freshly shaved alpacas at Alpaca-Land farm, in Goeming in the Austrian province of Salzburg, April, 29, 2012. The annual shearing should be done in the spring to make the animals more comfortable for the summer months. This will give them plenty of time to grow a thick new coat before winter.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
A Bengal Tiger named Akasha dives into the water after a piece of meat at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom on June 20, 2012 in Vallejo, California. On the first day of summer, temperatures in the San Francisco Bay Area ranged from the mid seventies by the coast to mid nineties inland.
AP Photo/Wendy Eskew, Kodiak Daily Mirror
A kayaker watches a brown bear swimming in Anton Larsen Bay near Kodiak, Alaska, on July 13, 2012. Wendy Close Eskew, who operates kayak tours on Kodiak Island, said her group came across the 2 or 3-year-old animal as it swam from Whale Island to the shore of the bay, a distance of 4 miles. The bear eventually reached shore and ran unharmed into the brush, Eskew said.
Rob Leeson/Newspix / Rex Features
Anzac the joey and Peggy wombat share a snuggle together at the Wildlife Kilmore Rescue Centre in Victoria, Australia.
An orphaned kangaroo and wombat have found creature comfort with one another. Anzac the joey and Peggy wombat have become best friends after sharing a pouch together at the Wildlife Kilmore Rescue Centre in Victoria, Australia. At just over five months old, Anzac was brought to the centre after being rescued in the Macedon Ranges. Missing his mum, Anzac was placed with wombat Peggy and the two now sleep together. Worker Lisa Milligan said the unlikely friends are comforted by each other's movement and heartbeat. She said: "There are lots of baby animals about at the moment, and they are orphaned for a range of reasons". One of the reasons the lively duo get on so well is their similar personalities - with Anzac described as very social while Peggy is boisterous and cheeky.
Dr. Arthur Anker, NUS
Zoologist Arthur Anker's captured these images of a Venezuelan poodle moth which has stirred the imaginations of viewers online. See more of Anker's incredible images on his Flickr site.
Joe Jaszewski/Idaho Statesman/MCT
Idaho Department of Fish and Game veterinarian Mark Drew, examines "Boo Boo". Drew said that the cub has second-degree burns on all four of his paws and needs daily medical care for the next four to six weeks.
AFP PHOTO / GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS
A handout picture released
by Guinness World Records on September 13, 2012 and taken on November
3, 2011 shows 3 year-old Great Dane called Zeus (L) from Otsego,
Michigan in the US which is featured in the new Guinness World Records
2013 book as the tallest dog ever, measuring 111.8 cm (44 in) from foot
to withers and Zeus's owner Denise Doorlag (R). A Great Dane who towers
2.2 metres (7 feet 4 inches) on his hind legs is named the tallest dog
ever recorded in the latest Guinness Book of World Records launched on
September 13, 2012. The giant canine from Michigan in the United States
weighs in at 70.3 kilograms, the 57th edition of the global records book
says.
Photos by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Susan Gell and Roy Rodgers, swim their horse Shoshoni in Loch Lomond on September 19,2012 in Luss, Scotland. Roy and Susan both live on Inchtavannaich Island on Loch Lomond and regularly take their horses to the mainland for exercise by letting them swim across the water. Loch Lomond is the largest freshwater loch in Scotland with about thirty islands.
Photo courtesy Chester Zoo
Porcupette Noko.
Two baby porcupines have had their first ever health check-ups at
Chester Zoo, in Chester U.K. The African Crested Porcupines – named
Stempu and Noko - were born on Sept 1 and Sept 4 to mom Roxie and dad
Nungu.
Keepers gave the duo a physical examination, inserted microchips and took their weights during the routine checks.
Chris Grindle, one of the zoo's keepers said, “We're very pleased to say that both of our spiky new arrivals are in great shape. “Noko tipped the scales at 865g while Stempu was a little heavier at 1075g. “Both look to be very healthy indeed and so we are extremely pleased with them – as are our visitors judging by their reactions when they see them.” Porcupine babies, called porcupettes, are born without sharp quills. Instead their spikes are soft and bendy but gradually harden after a few days.
REUTERS/Mihai Vasile/Four Paws/Handout
Ivan, a 4-year-old lion, sits inside a private roadside zoo in Novi Pazar September 23, 2012.
Three lions Ivan, Cornel and Lepa were acquired from the Belgrade Zoo by a private person in 2009, before the Serbian legislation that prohibits possession of dangerous wild animals came into force in 2010. The Serbian CITES management and enforcement authority confiscated the animals and asked Four Paws Animal Welfare Foundation to transfer them to Africa. Four Paws on September 25, 2012 will release the three lions from Serbia and two tigers from Germany in Lionsrock Big Cats Sanctuary in South Africa.
AP Photos/Denis Farrell
Seven-and-a-half month old orphaned elephant calf named Moses was found alone and close to death in the Vwaza Wildlife Reserve in Malawi. He has been adopted by the Jumbo Foundation where he shown being is cared for by his adoptive "mother" and foundation owner, Jenny Webb.
The winners of the internationally acclaimed Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition were announced in October, 2012.
Frozen moment
© Paul Nicklen (Canada)
Winner / Behaviour: Birds
Frozen moment Paul Nicklen of Canada Winner Paul was not the only
mammal lying patiently in wait on the edge of the Ross Sea, Antarctica,
to greet the explosion of emperor penguins. Leopard seals – measuring up
to three and a half metres long – were almost certainly lurking at the
edge of the ice ready to grab a meal. The penguins were therefore
exiting as fast as possible. They can sky-rocket up to two metres high
out of the water, landing well clear of the edge. ‘I also kept an eye
out for leopard seals myself,’ says Paul. ‘I’d previously had one hit me
square in the face when I was five metres from the ice edge, knocking
me down and stunning me. Luckily it realised that I wasn’t a penguin and
slipped back into the icy water.’ The penguins’ survival is vital to
that of their two-month-old chicks, hungrily waiting some 10 kilometres
away at the Cape Washington colony. With full bellies, the penguins
toboggan to the colony, where they regurgitate the food to their
respective single chicks. They then head back to the Ross Sea for
another three-week stint at sea.
REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
Wolf whisperer; Ecologist Dmitry Shamovich plays with a tamed wolf at his house.
REUTERS/Stringer
A pig dives into the water in Ningxiang county, Hunan province November 11, 2012. Villager Huang Demin drives his pigs to dive into the water from a 3-metre-high platform.
AFP PHOTO / Laurin Schmid
The keeper kisses the yet unnamed male aardvark on December 18, 2012 during a press conference at Berlin Zoo. The keeper bottle feeds the animal.
AFP PHOTO / INGO WAGNER
Common seal Lisa looks out of her wicker transport basket at the beach on the North Sea island Juist, Germany, on October 4, 2012. 4 seals of the seal station in Norddeich were returned to the wild. Between 50 and 100 orphaned seals are raised at the seal station each year and then returned to the wild.
LILONGWE, Malawi (AP) — Lots of mothers wake in the middle of the night to feed their babies, but not many get up to give a bottle to an infant elephant.
Jenny Webb adopted a baby boy elephant who was just a few weeks old in February. The orphaned elephant calf was named Moses after being found in the grasses of a riverbed by game rangers at Vwazi Wildlife Reserve in northern Malawi.
Rangers tried to find his family herd for two days without success, said the 48-year-old Webb, adding that the calf's mother was likely killed by elephant poachers. The illegal killing of elephants is rife in Africa, with conservation groups saying that tens of thousands of elephants are being killed each year for their ivory tusks.
Malawi's national parks did not have the funds to raise the little elephant, so Webb, the founder of the Jumbo Foundation an orphanage for large animals, took on the job of caring for the little pachyderm.
Moses weighs 100 kilograms (220 pounds) and each day he drinks 24 liters (6.3 gallons) of an infant formula that is boosted with coconut milk and 14 other ingredients.
"Elephants are extremely sensitive," said Webb. "It amazed me. We think of elephants as big, strong creatures but they are very emotional. Moses picks up on my feelings. If I am sad, he is nurturing. If I am angry, he quickly gets upset."
Webb has placed a mattress on the dining room floor where she and Moses curl up for the night. Moses gets up about every two hours and shuffles around the room until Webb wakes and gives him his bottle feed.
In the mornings, as Webb has a coffee and watches television, Moses throws his trunk over her shoulder and nuzzles his head against her.
Webb gets advice from veterinarians and from the Elephant Orphanage Project in Zambia, which for 16 years has offered similar support to baby elephants.
In the wild, a baby elephant would shelter underneath his mother to be shielded from the sun and remain warm and safe. To emulate this, Webb puts a blanket over Moses. His still tender hide is also protected with sunscreen and moisturizer.
Moses had to have a hernia operation not long after being taken in by Webb because his umbilical cord was damaged when he was born. He stopped eating because of the stress of the surgery and anesthetic and lost weight, but after force feedings the young elephant returned to a healthy weight, Webb said.
Caring for the baby elephant is a 24-hour job. Webb gets help from two employees Matimat Julius and Jim Tembo. All three take turns playing with Moses and using their arms to sweep the dust, the way a mother elephant would do with her trunk.
Like many toddlers, Moses likes to go outside and Webb takes him on daily walks with the family dogs.
"The dogs are like his herd," she said. "He socializes with them in the day and likes going for walks with them. He quickly established dominance with them. But at night, he herds the dogs outside. He doesn't like to sleep with the dogs. He likes to sleep with the cats, and me."
As soon as the sun goes down, Moses lies next to Webb on the makeshift bed.
In a few weeks, Moses is expected to start eating hay, grass, bark and horse feed along with his formula. He has started putting grass and leaves in his mouth but he is not yet eating them. By the time he is four he will stop having formula and will be eating vegetation. And when he is five, Webb plans to reintroduce Moses to life in the wild, possibly in the national park where he was found.
In the meantime Webb plans to raise funds to build a boma, an African-style corral, where Moses can live when he becomes too big for the house.
"By the time he is two years old, he will no longer be able to fit through the door and he will have to live outside," said Webb.
Webb wants to make Moses "an ambassador for elephants" to educate people against wildlife poaching.
Raising Moses has been challenging, said Webb, "but it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I have raised children, and this is very similar, but you can't put an elephant in a pram (stroller)."
Webb said that raising Moses gave her the idea to start an orphanage for other animals.
"When we got Moses we found there is a desperate need for an orphanage for large animals. Elephants, hippos, buffalo, rhinos ... there is no place for those babies to go if their parents are killed," she said. "There are some places in Zambia and Kenya, but no place here in Malawi, so that is what I am working for."
Seven-and-a-half month old orphaned elephant calf named Moses was found alone and close to death in the Vwaza Wildlife Reserve in Malawi. He has been adopted by the Jumbo Foundation where he is cared for and is being raised by humans.
AP Photos/Denis Farrell
Moses cuddles with his adoptive "mother" and foundation owner, Jenny Webb.
Moses makes his way into the kitchen as the pet dogs pass by.
Moses reacts with one of his caretakers.
Moses plays in a dust pit with caretaker Matimat Julius during his daily walk.
Moses takes one of his two-hourly formula bottle feeds.
Moses gets settled on a makeshift bed, after sunset with his adoptive "mother" and foundation owner, Jenny Webb, where they will sleep together at their home.
Three lions Ivan, Cornel and Lepa were acquired from the Belgrade Zoo by a private person in 2009, before the Serbian legislation that prohibits possession of dangerous wild animals came into force in 2010. The Serbian CITES management and enforcement authority confiscated the animals and asked Four Paws Animal Welfare Foundation to transfer them to Africa. Four Paws on September 25, 2012 will release the three lions from Serbia and two tigers from Germany in Lionsrock Big Cats Sanctuary in South Africa.
Photos; REUTERS/Mihai Vasile/Four Paws/Handout
Ivan, a 4-year-old lion, sits inside a private roadside zoo in Novi Pazar September 23, 2012.
Lepa, a 3-year-old lioness, yawns inside a private roadside zoo in Novi Pazar September 22, 2012.
Ivan and Cornel, 4-year-old lions, stand inside a private roadside zoo in Novi Pazar September 23, 2012.
