The week in wildlife

A leopard blends into the background at Pilanesberg National Park near Sun City in South Africa Photograph: Vassil Donev/EPA Photograph: Vassil Donev/guardian.co.uk A young skunk is the centre of attention when he is unveiled at the Tierpark Friedrichsfelde zoo in Berlin on Tuesday Photograph: Barbara Sax/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Barbara Sax/guardian.co.uk A pod of dolphins surface for air near a shrimp boat skimming for oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in Barataria Bay, Louisiana Photograph: Erik S. Lesser/EPA Photograph: Erik S. Lesser/guardian.co.uk A young Bearded Vulture is reintroduced to the wild in the Swiss Alps as part of a 20-year-long breeding and reintroduction project Photograph: Ennio Leanza/EPA Photograph: Ennio Leanza/guardian.co.uk An Impala grazes at Kruger National Park, some 60 km from the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa Photograph: Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Martin Bernetti/guardian.co.uk Wild horses run through Spanish villages during the Rapa Das Bestas event in Galicia Photograph: Miguel Vidal/REUTERS Photograph: Miguel Vidal/guardian.co.uk The welcome sight of endangered Mediterranean Monk Seals mating in the Madeira archipelago Photograph: NPL/Rex Features Photograph: NPL/guardian.co.uk A vibrant poppy field near Bewdley in Worcestshire is attracting photographers from all over the county who are keen to snap the display while it lasts Photograph: Wendy Carter/The Wildlife Trusts Photograph: Wendy Carter/guardian.co.uk An oiled crane sits on a tree limb on a small island in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. The birds are being rescued from the devastating effects of the Gulf oil spill and transported to the Fort Jackson Rehabilitation Center Photograph: Sean Gardner/Reuters Photograph: Sean Gardner/guardian.co.uk Increasingly endangered Sumatran elephants forage for food in between patrolling for the illegal loggers who are destroying their habitat in Way Kambas, Indonesia Photograph: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images Photograph: Ulet Ifansasti/guardian.co.uk A wallaby looks surprisingly at home on the Scottish island of Inchconnachan on Loch Lomond – but time could be up for the Aussie marsupial with locals calling for the island's wallaby colony to be culled Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/Guardian Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/guardian.co.uk Endangered African Rock Hopper Penguins stand on rocks at Boulders Beach in Cape Town, South Africa Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Photograph: Dan Kitwood/guardian.co.uk A hippopotamus basks serenely in its pond at the Zoologischer Garten zoo in Berlin Photograph: Barbara Sax/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Barbara Sax/guardian.co.uk Reputed to be 6,000 years old, the world's largest baobab tree stands proudly at Sunland Nurseries in Limpopo, South Africa Photograph: Jonathan Brady/EPA Photograph: Jonathan Brady/guardian.co.uk Water buffalo wallow in low water in the reservoir of Lam Takhong Dam in Thailand, where dams are at their lowest levels in nearly two decades – threatening to halve the country's rice output next year Photograph: Barbara Walton/EPA Photograph: Barbara Walton/guardian.co.uk Water birds engage in aerial combat at Pilanesberg National Park near Sun City, South Africa Photograph: Vassil Donev/EPA Photograph: Vassil Donev/guardian.co.uk Spectacular Tibetan hillsides like this one in Qinghai province, China, are home to the caterpillar fungus gold rush Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk A 25-foot-long dead baleen humpback whale calf lies on the beach after it washed ashore on Jones Beach in Wantagh, New York – animal rescue crews were on the scene to assist but the whale was dead on arrival Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images Photograph: Mario Tama/guardian.co.uk