Animals In News

A lioness that approached a waterbuck in anticipation of an easy meal got a nasty shock when the antelope turned the tables and charged at her. The lioness ran away, lucky not to have been seriously gored. The stand-off was caught on film by photographer Daryl Balfour at the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. A shark gives a diver a high-five. Eli Martinez was interacting with the lemon shark in the balmy waters off the coast of The Bahamas. Eli, who works as the editor of Shark Diving magazine, said: "This particular shark I had encountered before. She is very laid-back so I knew if I held my hand out she would come over. At first she was swimming straight towards me, but I didn't expect her to turn at the last moment. She tapped my palm with her fin like we were high-five-ing." A Little Owl imitates a ceramic insulator on a telegraph pole. The bird was spotted by wildlife photographer Mircea Costina in Dobrogea, Romania - but only after another bird gave its position away. Two orphaned baby burrowing owls, nicknamed Linford and Christie, have moved into the home of their keeper Jimmy Robinson. The owlets were hatched in an incubator at Longleat Safari Park, Wiltshire, and are now being hand-reared by Jimmy. The native American birds, which get their name from living in small burrows in the wild, can find plenty of nooks and crannys about his flat to hide. "Tea cups and bookcases are a particular favourite," says Jimmy, "but it's good to see them developing their natural behaviour and they always seem to find me at meal times." Telegraph reader Richenda Oldham writes: "He may be only 26in high, but new arrival Pingu the Shetland pony has already won the hearts of both staff and clients at equine therapy centre Special Horses for Special Children near Chard in Somerset. In just a few weeks he has learnt all kinds of tricks from shaking hands to standing on pedestals and walking on a specially built seesaw. Pingu is partial to a cup of tea - preferably with milk and two sugars. He will even stand on a pedestal by the table, so he can reach his mug." A mare named Panamera prepares for the London 2012 Olympic Games in a HIDEZ compression suit. The suits, made by Australian company Hidez, are to help horses recover from travel and strenuous exercise. Company director and suit designer Matthew Spice claims they help reduce vibration during travel and aid blood flow which in turn reduces muscle soreness, and speeds recovery after a big event. A male giant panda stands on his hind legs to reach out for an apple at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan A mother polar bear plays with two of her three cubs born in November, at the Moscow Zoo A polar bear is pictured with its head above water and body below the surface of Repulse Bay in Nunavut, Canada A grizzly bear feasts on a sockeye salmon in Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park, Alaska A baby long-tailed monkey, also known as a crab-eating macaque, is cared for at Muara Angke Wildlife Refuge in Jakarta, Indonesia Ten-day-old giraffe Mugambi runs through its outdoor compound at Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg A Thistledown Velvet Ant, also known as a Cow Killer, is seen in the Mojave Desert, California. It isn't really an ant, but a wingless female wasp. This photograph was taken by Robert Jensen after his son Chris found the unusual insect wandering around on the desert floor. The female wasp is about 2cm long; the males are much smaller and have wings. Their sting can be quite painful. A male sage grouse puffs its chest out and extends its spiky tail feathers. The bird can inflate two air sacs on its chest during its courtship ritual. This male sage grouse strutted around for hours while fanning his tail feathers and making a series of calls to females. Photographer Doug Dance drove more than 1,000 miles to photograph the courtship at Bluebank lek, in Wyoming, America. American photographer David Schultz captured intimate family moments of an adult and baby penguin while on a trip to the Antarctic. The images include the chick peeking out from under the adult's brood pouch, being encouraged to walk on the ice and looking up at its parent. The Emperor penguins belong to a colony near Snow Hill Island along the Antarctic Peninsula. Polly, a Humboldt penguin, looks at the first penguin eggs to be laid at the new Penguin Beach exhibit at London Zoo A bald eagle defends its nest and two eaglets from an osprey. However, the eagles had previously stolen the nest from the osprey and made it larger to accommodate their family. Wildlife photographer Lorraine Hudgins caught the irate birds on camera at York County Sports Complex in A goose walks along a riverside wall opposite the Houses of Parliament in central London A dove is hand-fed in Richmond Park, London. Russian photographer, Aroian Ashot, who shoots under his professional name Alex A. Royal, snaps himself feeding birds. A deer appears to be carrying fiery orb between its antlers as it is silhouetted against the setting sun in Phoenix Park in Dublin, Ireland Kobuk (yellow bib) leads Sourdough Jack (green bib) in a piglet race in Multnomah, Oregon. Piglet racing is popular in the south and the north west of the United States. The pigs are enticed by the thrill of the competition and - of course - by a tasty treat at the end of the track. A Sphynx cat wears a wedding dress during a cat show in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan