A peacock spreads its feathers in the West Bank

A bearded seal on the ice, Svalbard islands, Norway. If temperature increases continue, creatures in the Arctic region face the extinction of their habitats

A young western bluebird takes flight from a small tree while hunting insects in a field along the Umpqua River, Elkton, Oregon, US

A deer walks through smoke in the community of Klamath River, which burned in the McKinney fire in Klamath national forest, Yreka, California, US

A captured merlin is held to be fitted with a leg band and tracking device, in Glen Arbor, Lake Michigan, US. The mission will enhance knowledge of a species still recovering from a significant drop-off caused by pesticides, and help wildlife managers determine how to prevent merlins from attacking endangered piping plovers at the Sleeping Bear Dunes national lakeshore

.

An environmentalist checks a turtle hatchling of the endangered loggerhead (Caretta caretta) species in La Sabana, Venezuela The turtles were released into the ocean by conservationists who protect them from predators in a nursery on El Puerto beach

A hummingbird in a garden in Caracas, Venezuela

Volunteers watch flamingos being released near the Fuente de Piedra lake, 40 miles from Málaga, Spain, during a tagging and control operation of chicks to monitor the species

A common lizard at the Slievenacloy nature reserve, Belfast, Northern Ireland. This species-rich grassland and designated area for special scientific interest, managed by Ulster Wildlife, is now set to double in size following the acquisition of adjacent land

A great blue skimmer dragonfly (Libellula vibrans), Markham, Canada

White Beluga whales swim near the Svalbard islands, Norway

Humpback whales come to the equatorial sea off Atacames, Ecuador. Some 10,000 have settled in the warm waters from northern Peru to Costa Rica and beyond. On a journey that lasts the winter cycle of the southern hemisphere – from July to October – these cetaceans prefer equatorial waters for mating and giving birth, arriving after a month of swimming

Hundreds of baby sea turtles are released into the sea on Ketawai beach in Indonesia’s Bangka Belitung islands as part of a conservation program. Before being hatched and released by Alobi Foundation Wildlife Rescue, 2,287 sea turtle eggs were saved from illegal trade

A squash bee (Peponapis pruinosa) pollates the flower of a cucumber plant in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

A coral structure of acropora and platygyra at Eilat nature reserve in Israel. Despite sea temperatures rising faster in the Gulf of Aqaba than the global rate, the coral reef in the north of the Red Sea shows remarkable resistance to the effects of global warming. Scientists are trying to understand the biological capacity of these corals in the hope that this knowledge could help reefs elsewhere

A herd of wild elephants graze in the Letekujan tea estate in the Golaghat district of Assam, north-eastern India

An extremely rare sea slug has been spotted off the coast of the Isles of Scilly, marking the first confirmed record of the species in the UK, according to Cornwall Wildlife Trust and the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust. The multicoloured sea slug (Babakina anadoni) measures just 2cm in length and was captured on camera by Seasearch volunteer Allen Murray during a dive near Melledgan, an uninhabited rock island

A potentially new species of jellyfish has been discovered in Papua New Guinea by a scuba diver. Researchers were struck by its intricate detail and the way the jellyfish seemed to move decisively through the water