The week in wildlife – in pictures

Yangon, Myanmar

A macaque monkey at Hlawga wildlife park on the outskirts of Yangon

Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock
Istanbul, Turkey

Migrating storks gather in the sky over the city

Photograph: Isa Terli/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Asuncion, Paraguay

A glittering-bellied emerald hummingbird hovers among the weeping bottlebrush flowers to feed nectar in a backyard garden

Photograph: Andre M Chang/ZumaWire/Rex/Shutterstock
Ahmedabad, India

A red wasp pollinates a flower

Photograph: Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images
New South Wales, Australia

A brumby and an eastern grey kangaroo in the Yarrangobilly area of the Kosciuszko national park. Free-roaming feral horses, known as Brumbies, are found across Australia. Believed to be descended from animals imported by early British colonialists, the Brumby population is estimated to be in the thousands, with the highest concentration of horses roaming Australia’s alpine region, which straddles the state border of Victoria and New South Wales

Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images
Toronto, Canada

A rare young melanistic fox rests atop a car in west Toronto after playing with its sister nearby. More commonly known as a silver fox, it is a genetic variant of the more common red fox.

Photograph: Christopher Drost/Zuma Press/eyevine
Kenya

Superb starlings (Lamprotornis superbus) in the Amboseli national park.

Photograph: Baz Ratner/Reuters
Grand Sable, Mauritius

A man holds open the mouth of a dead melon-headed whale also known as the electra dolphin showing what appears to be oil in its mouth after being washed up with eight others on 26 August. At least 40 dolphins have mysteriously died in an area of Mauritius affected by an oil spill from from the MV Wakashio, a Japanese owned Panama-flagged bulk carrier, after it ran aground off the south-east coast of Mauritius spilling more than 1000 tonnes of fuel

Photograph: Laura Morosoli/EPA
Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Fisherman transport sharks to the fish market in the traditional fishing port of Banda Aceh. A petition, closing next month, is asking the UK government to ban the importation of shark fins

Photograph: Hotli Simanjuntak/EPA
Maria Island, Australia

Australian Geographic nature photographer of the year 2020. The winner of the threatened species winner, Tasmanian Devil by Jasmine Vink

Photograph: Jasmine Vink
Sabah, Malaysia

An indigo flycatcher (Eumyias indigo) at nest in Kinabalu park. Songbirds in tropical rainforests curtail their reproduction to help them survive droughts, according to a study published this month. Species with longer lifespans were better able to cope with this environmental volatility than previously thought, researchers found

Photograph: Thomas E Martin/USGS, Montana Cooperative Wildli/AFP/Getty Images
Koh Samui, Thailand

Baby turtles on the beach. While resorts are deserted, 838 baby turtles have scuttled across a quiet Koh Samui and into the sea since February, making it a record year

Photograph: Courtesy of Banyan Tree Samui
Alloa, Scotland

The shortlist for Britain’s trees of the year has been announced. The climate change tree at Gartmorn Dam, near Alloa, is one of five contenders to be named Scotland’s tree of the year. It is situated within a post-industrial landscape, Sherriffyards colliery, which closed in 1921 and the site is now a country park and nature reserve

Photograph: Woodland Trust Scotland
Oregon, US

Baldfaced hornets swarm out of their beachball sized nest attached to a tree on a hillside near Elkton in rural western Oregon. Baldfaced hornets are considered to be beneficial due to their predation of flies, caterpillars, and spiders. However, their aggressive defensive nature makes them a threat to humans who disturb their nests or wander close. The baldfaced hornet has a unique defense in that it can squirt or spray venom from the stinger into the eyes of nest intruders

Photograph: Robin Loznak/ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock
California, US

Fire burns in the hollow of an redwood tree in Big Basin Redwoods state park. The CZU Lightning Complex wildfire tore through the park but most of the redwoods, some as old as 2,000 years, were still standing

Photograph: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP