Time once more for a look at the animal kingdom and our interactions with the countless species that share our planet. Today’s photos include a single bluefin tuna worth more than $630,000, the oldest living gorilla in the U.S. celebrates her 60th birthday, hydrotherapy for a wounded baby elephant in Thailand, a pygmy anteater in Peru, a strange creature caught on a wildlife camera in Kansas, the annual stcktake at the London Zoo, and much more. These images and many others are part of this roundup of animals in the news from recent months, seen from the perspectives of their human observers, companions, captors, and caretakers, as part of an ongoing series on animals in the news.
Animals in the News
-
Six month-old baby elephant 'Clear Sky' receives assistance from her guardians during a hydrotherapy session at a local clinic in Chonburi province, Thailand, on January 5, 2017. After losing part of her left foot in a snare, Clear Sky is now learning to walk again -- in water. The six-month-old is the first elephant to receive hydrotherapy at an animal hospital in Chonburi province, a few hours from Bangkok. The goal is to strengthen the withered muscles in her front leg. #
Roberto Schmidt / AFP / Getty -
-
A man walks with his camel across the Liwa desert, some 250 kilometers west of the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi, during the Liwa 2017 Moreeb Dune Festival on January 2, 2017. The festival, which attracts participants from around the Gulf region, includes a variety of races (cars, bikes, falcons, camels and horses) or other activities aimed at promoting the country's folklore. #
Karim Sahib / AFP / Getty -
A migrating crane flies over the Hula Lake Ornithology and Nature Park in northern Israel, which is a stopping point for hundreds of species of birds along their migration route between the northern and southern hemispheres during the cold season, on December 7, 2016. #
Baz Ratner / Reuters -
A veterinary staff member shows an x-ray photo of Tengku, a Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) who was rescued from the community farm nearly two weeks ago, and was found to have more than 60 air rifle pellets embedded in his body. Photographed inside a quarantine facility at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program's rehabilitation center on November 10, 2016 in Kuta Mbelin, Indonesia. Orangutans in Indonesia have been known to be on the verge of extinction as a result of deforestation and poaching. Found mostly in South-East Asia, where they live on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, the endangered species continue to lose their habitat as a result of corporate expansion in a developing economy. Indonesia approved palm oil concessions on nearly 15 million acres of peatlands over the past years and thousands of square miles have been cleared for plantations, including the lowland areas that are the prime habitat for orangutans. #
Ulet Ifansasti / Getty -
-
Palestinian children play with the bodies of mummified animals that died from hunger and Israeli strikes during the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas militants during the summer of 2014, at the zoo in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 4, 2017. Gaza's only zoo is under threat of closing due to lack of funds to care for the remaining animals. #
Said Khatib / AFP / Getty -
This picture taken on November 20, 2016 shows a mother Bryde's whale (left) and her calf feeding on anchovies in the Gulf of Thailand, off the coast of Samut Sakhon province. #
Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP / Getty -
Dogs are shown locked in a cage at a dog meat farm in Wonju, South Korea, on November 21, 2016. Humane Society International provided all 150 dogs with vaccinations and warm bedding, and aims to close down the farm and rescue the dogs. HSI is the leading animal welfare organization working to end Asia’s dog meat trade, including in South Korea where around 17,000 farms breed up to 2.5 million dogs for human consumption annually. HSI works in partnership with dog farmers interested in leaving the industry, and assists their transition to cruelty-free livelihoods. #
Woohae Cho / AP Images for The Humane Society of the United States -
-
This November 22, 2016 photo provided by the Gardner Police Department shows a person dressed in a gorilla costume that was captured on one of the two motion-activated cameras intended to investigate reports of mountain lions at a park in Gardner, Kansas, Police discovered images of smaller animals as well as pranksters dressed as animals, monsters and Santa Claus, but no mountain lions were detected. #
Gardner Police Department via AP -
A herd of reindeer gather inside an enclosure as herders select and sort them during sunrise in the settlement of Krasnoye in Nenets Autonomous District, Russia, on November 28, 2016. #
Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters -
Hunters Chiaki Kodama (right) and Aoi Fukuno drag a deer that Kodama shot through a forest outside Oi, Fukui Prefecture, Japan, on November 17, 2016. A small but growing number of Japanese women are entering the male-dominated world of hunting, where it was once taboo for men to even speak to a woman before going on a hunt. As the hunting fraternity shrinks due to age and rural depopulation, women are recruited to help protect farms against rising numbers of wild deer and boar viewed as pests by farmers. Hunting groups and local governments are trying to recruit women through social media, as well as offering hunting tours and classroom training. #
Thomas Peter / Reuters -
The carcass of a yacare caiman lies in the dried-up river bed of the Pilcomayo river in Boqueron, Paraguay, on August 14, 2016. Water from the river, which divides Paraguay and Argentina in the area of the Gran Chaco, was scarce. This is not an uncommon sight in the region of General Diaz, where the Pilcomayo's waters form lakes and streams that give life to capybaras, birds and caimans. "The river's situation is critical. No water was forecast to enter the basin until December, as happens every year," said Alcides Gonzalez, a resident of the area. #
Jorge Adorno / Reuters -
-
Two male Grey Seals are covered in blood as they fight on the north Sea island of Helgoland, Germany, on December 14, 2016. As the mating season starts after female Grey Seals give birth, males usually compete by shows of strength against other males. Hundreds of Grey Seals use the island to give birth to their pups, usually between the months of November and January. The pups, after 3 weeks of nursing, are then left to fend for themselves. This year has seen a record number of new pups, with 320 births recorded up to December 14. #
John Macdougall / AFP / Getty -
-
An Iraqi shepherd watches over his flock of sheep, their fleece blackened by smoke from burning oil wells set ablaze by ISIS jihadists before retreating towards Mosul, as they graze near the town of Qayyarah on November 25, 2016. #
Thomas Coex / AFP / Getty -
In this November 17, 2016 photo, Nivaldo Lopes, a 60-year-old geriatric patient, pets a Schnauzer dog named Paola in his bed at the Support Hospital of Brasilia, Brazil. The hospital's pet therapy program was set up to help patients with advanced cancer and those living with chronic diseases or recovering from trauma. #
Eraldo Peres / AP -
The stuntman Mario Luraschi performs onstage during the Night of the horse at the Parc des Expositions Paris-Nord Villepinte on November 26, 2016 in Villepinte, France. #
Bernard Menigault / Corbis via Getty -
-
Six month-old baby elephant 'Clear Sky' is kept afloat with the help of a harness during a hydrotherapy session at a local veterinary clinic in Chonburi Province on January 5, 2017. #
Roberto Schmidt / AFP / Getty -
Colo, the nation's oldest living gorilla, opens a present in her enclosure during her 60th birthday party at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, on December 22, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio. Colo was the first gorilla in the world born in a zoo and has surpassed the usual life expectancy of captive gorillas by two decades. Her longevity is putting a spotlight on the medical care, nutrition and up-to-date therapeutic techniques that are helping lengthen zoo animals' lives. #
Ty Wright / AP -
Kiyoshi Kimura (center), president of sushi restaurant chain Sushi-Zanmai, poses with a 212-kilogram bluefin tuna at his main restaurant near the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo on January 5, 2017. The bluefin tuna was traded at 74.2 million yen (about $632,600 USD) at the wholesale market on the first trading day of the new year. #
Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP / Getty -
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.