Week in wildlife – in pictures: a feisty sea lion, a retiring elephant and a fleeing fox

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

Main image: A fox flees a wildfire in Butte County, California. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP

  • Mountain gorillas in Volcanoes national park, Rwanda. The global population of the endangered species is confined to two patches of Afromontane forest: one in Bwindi Impenetrable forest national park, south-western Uganda, and the other on the forested slopes of the Virunga mountains, which straddle the border shared by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda
    Mountain gorillas in Volcanoes national park

  • A grey heron touching down in Koçacay Delta, Turkey. The area is important for natural life with its floodplain forests, lagoons and large sand dunes
    A grey heron spreads its wings over water

  • After years of advocacy, Charley, a 43-year-old African elephant at National Zoological Garden in Pretoria is finally on his way to freedom and retirement at the Shambala private game reserve in South Africa
    An elephant behind a rock

  • A raccoon peeking between the leaves of a courgette plant in Toronto, Canada
    A raccoon peeking between the leaves of a courgette plant

  • Macaws perching on a dried palm tree in Caracas, Venezuela
    Three macaws on a dried palm tree

  • Marine iguanas, found only in the Galápagos, swimming on the outskirts of Fernandina Island. The marine feeds directly from the Pacific, making it a good indicator of the ocean’s health
    Two marine iguanas swimming underwater

  • An Asian golden cat walking from a box in Jantho forest as it is released back into the wild. The animal was treated for injuries caused by a poacher in Aceh province, Indonesia
    An auburn cat walks from a box

  • Beluga whales swimming in the Arctic Ocean
    Aerial image of beluga whales swimming

  • A giant tortoise, estimated to be more than 100 years old, feeds in the highlands of the Galápagos. ‘Galápago’ in old Spanish meant ‘saddle’, and the archipelago was named after the shape of the species’ shell
    A giant tortoise walking

  • Eight young rhim gazelles are ready to be released on Farwa Island, west of Tripoli
    People cradle baby gazelles on a boat

  • A Nazca booby feeding its young on the cliffs of Wolf Island, Galápagos
    A Nazca booby feeds its young

  • Beachgoers at La Jolla Cove in San Diego, California, are warned off by a sea lion after getting too close
    A sea lion on rocks near beachgoers

  • A toque macaque sleeping on a tree trunk in Dambulla, Sri Lanka
    A sleeping toque macaque

  • A ground squirrel peeking over steps in Antalya, Turkey
    A ground squirrel peeks over steps

  • A Pacific green sea turtle swims near Wolf Island in the Galápagos
    A Pacific green sea turtle swims underwater

  • A hornet hoverfly mimicking a European hornet in Brussels, Belgium
    A hornet hoverfly among flowers

  • A centipede crawling on the floor in a house at night, in Tehtatta, West Bengal, India
    A centipede in a spiral shape

  • Dolphins swimming in the Bosphorus strait near Istanbul, Turkey
    Dolphins swimming

  • A polar bear walking on sea ice in the Arctic Ocean
    A polar bear walking on sea ice in the Arctic Ocean

  • Tofino, a baby sea otter estimated to be two to three months old, playing with a toy after having blood drawn, a microchip inserted and her teeth checked at Vancouver aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Center, Canada
    baby sea otter playing with a plastic toy in water

  • A fox fleeing a wildfire in Butte County, California
    A fox runs through flames
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