LightBox presents the fourth installment of recent news images that reveal the endless wonders of the animal kingdom.
Whether cute and cuddly, wild or exotic, animals hold a fascination among all humans. BBC wildlife documentaries and National Geographic stories come to mind when recalling great animal imagery, but animal magic is not only confined to natural wilderness. It also exists in a life of domesticity or captivity, meaning intriguing photography of our furry and feathered friends can be found on a daily basis.
Also on LightBox: The first and second and third installments of Animal Magic.
A herd of sheep scrambling to drink water in the Jiefang Xinzhuang village of Tongxin County in northern China, Aug. 12, 2011.Wang Peng—Xinhua/LandovBaby fen raft spiders are reared in test tubes at Chester Zoo in northern England, Aug. 9, 2011. 400 of Britain's most endangered species of spiders are being hand reared at the zoo ahead of their release into the wild later this year, as part of a conservation program aimed at stemming their decline. Phil Noble—ReutersA seagull in the city center of Cardiff, Wales, Aug. 8, 2011. A draft council report has shown that seagull numbers in the city have more than doubled since 2006, bringing their total in the Welsh capital to at least 6,000, which is causing problems for residents and businesses. Matt Cardy—Getty ImagesFlamingo chicks gather before they are ringed at the Fuente de Piedra nature reserve, near Malaga, in southern Spain, Aug. 6, 2011. Around 600 flamingos were ringed and measured before being released into the lagoon, which houses one of the largest colonies of flamingos in Europe.Jon Nazca—ReutersA gazelle stands in what local residents say is the bombed ruins of the compound of Abdullah Al-Senussi, head of the Libyan Intelligence Service and brother in law of Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli, Aug. 19, 2011.Paul Hackett—ReutersCamels stand on the motorway between Misrata and Sirt, Aug. 30, 2011. Libyan rebels were advancing towards Sirt, Gaddafi's hometown and a bastion for loyalists.Filippo Monteforte—AFP/Getty ImagesCattle move to avoid the flames of a large grass fire in a farm in Oklahoma City, Aug. 30, 2011. Authorities have evacuated a larger area in Oklahoma City, where stiff winds and dry conditions fueled a wildfire that destroyed several homes.Paul Hellstern—The Oklahoman/APA squirrel flees as firemen combat a forest fire that started at Santo Amaro de Tavares in central Portugal, Aug. 11, 2011.Nuno Andre Ferreira—EPAGnus run across the Mara River at Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, Aug. 29, 2011. When grass withers at Serengeti National Park in north Tanzania, flocks of wildebeests, zebras and antelope living there start their annual migration to Masai Mara.Zhao Yingquan—Xinhau/LandovMarabou storks pick rotten meat in the Mara River at Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, Aug. 29, 2011. Zhao Yingquan—Xinhau/LandovA photograph released Aug. 16, 2011 by the Wildlife Conversation Society. The image was taken as part of the first Global Camera Trap Mammal study done by The Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring Network (TEAM) and shows a Pan troglodytes (Common chimpanzee) in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda. AFP/Getty ImagesA photograph released Aug. 16, 2011, by the Wildlife Conversation Society showing a Gorilla Beringei Beringei (mountain gorilla) in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda. AFP/Getty ImagesA dog jumps as it is hit by a water cannon used on students staging a rally to demand changes in the public state education system, in Santiago, Chile, Aug. 4, 2011.Victor Ruiz Caballero—ReutersA dolphin jumps out of the water during a show at the Aqua Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, Aug. 21, 2011. Hundreds of spectators enjoyed the performances of Pacific white-sided and bottlenose dolphins.Franck Robichon—EPAScientists brand a male dolphin with a frozen branding iron before releasing him during a research study trip in Barataria Bay in the Gulf of Mexico, Aug. 15, 2011. The Times-Picayune/LandovA dog looks at a beached Southern Right whale on Danger beach in Cape Town, South Africa, Aug. 17, 2011. The juvenile Southern Right whale beached itself early in the morning but after a few hours it was declared dead by Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) vets. Nic Bothma—EPABolivian squirrel monkeys gather around a toy football during a photo call at London Zoo in central London, Aug. 18, 2011. The zoo has a total of 22 squirrel monkeys, with one adult male named Bounty having fathered 11 offspring.Ben Stansall—AFP/Getty ImagesA bird is seen as it waits to eat from a leftover plate in Kathmandu, Nepal, Aug. 17, 2011.Navesh Chitrakar—ReutersPhilippine Mynas, seized from illegal traders, are seen inside a police station in Manila, Philippines on Aug.18 2011. Several endangered animal species were seized from three illegal traders in Manila. Francis R. Malasig—EPAA little giraffe bull, Thabo, is cared by his mother Jujis at the outdoor enclosure of the zoo in Hanover, Germany, August 2011. The rare Rothschilds giraffe will be breastfed by its mother for the next 15 months and will grow to a size of three meters during this time.Holger Hollemann—DPA/Zuma PressTwo cheetah cubs peek through wild flowers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va., Aug. 31, 2011. When they mature, the cubs will become part of a national breeding program for the endangered species.Jacquelyn Martin—APA python regius inspects the head of a rabbit in Leipzig, Germany, during a photo call to promote the "Hund & Heimtier" pet fair, Aug. 17, 2011.Peter Endig—DPA/Zuma PressA busy mosquito at work sucking blood from a man's arm in a garden in Frankfurt Oder, Germany, Aug. 20, 2011. The wet summer this year has been the cause for the recent mosquito pest in the state of Brandenburg.Patrick Pleul—NewscomA red Dragonfly sits on a branch at national Jordanian park near Amman, Jordan, Aug. 21, 2011.Jamal Nasrallah—EPAGriffon vultures fly over a field near the southern Spanish village of Teba, near Malaga, Aug. 12, 2011.Jon Nazca—ReutersFlamingo chicks fly over the Fuente de Piedra lake in Spain, August 6, 2011. The lake, which is the most important breeding ground for flamingos in the Iberian Peninsula, is also a nature reserve and a haven for birds with more than 170 different species recorded. Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty ImagesA flamingo chick runs on the Fuente de Piedra lake during a tagging and control operation to monitor the evolution of the species, Aug. 6, 2011.Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty ImagesA polar bear cools off near the pool in Budapest's Zoo, Aug. 24, 2011. Temperatures reached nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Hungary this summer.Bernadett Szabo—ReutersA White-tailed Eagle flies from a tree in Unteres Odertal National Park near Criewen, Germany, Aug. 24, 2011. Untere Odertal in one of the last unspoiled natural landscapes in Germany.Patricka Pleul—DPA/LandovThe words and numbers 'Revolution 69,' symbolizing the year Gaddafi came into power, are seen on a donkey in Ras Lanuf, Libya, Aug. 29, 2011. Esam Al-Fetori—ReutersThe legs of a carthorse are seen on the beach before it goes out for shrimp fishing in the coastal town of Oostduinkerke, Belgium, Aug. 16, 2011. This traditional method of catching shrimp along the North Sea coast, which dates back in tradition some 500 years, attracts tourists every summer.Yves Herman—ReutersMotala, age 50, rests in the afternoon sun with the new prosthetic made for her at the Friends of the Asian Elephant (FAE) elephant hospital in the Mae Yao National Reserve in Lampang,Thailand, Aug. 29, 2011. Motala lost a foot many years back after stepping on a land mine and is now on her third prosthetic, as they need to be changed according to the weight of the elephant. Paula Bronstein—Getty Images
