Viral Tab Animals

This is the moment a newborn endangered Malayan tapir cub nervously observes its enclosure while sticking close to its mum. Zookeepers at Leipzig Zoo in Germany said mum Laila gave birth to the cub last Friday morning, 5th November. The zoo said in a statement: "Laila is a very experienced mother who has already given birth to several young animals and accordingly takes care of them." The cub in the clip is a Malayan tapir (Acrocodia indica) which is the only tapir that is native to the Old World. In the wild, they are found in the rainforests of Southeast Asia, more specifically in Sumatra in Indonesia, the Malaysian Peninsular, Myanmar, and Thailand. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) considers the Malayan tapir to be 'endangered', which means the species is very likely to become extinct in the near future. Leipzig Zoo has been very successful in breeding and rearing the endangered species. In the last decade, three Malayan tapirs named Baru, Kedua and Ketiga were born at the zoo and later reintroduced into the wild as part of a conservation programme. The gestation period of the Malayan tapir is around 390 days and they have been known to live for over 30 years. Despite weighing only a few kilogrammes at birth, if this little cub makes it to adulthood, it could one day weigh in excess of 300 kilogrammes (661 lbs). The first few days of the cub's life will be critical, especially as the last two offspring born to Laila did not make it to adulthood. Ariel Jacken, the senior curator at the zoo, said: "We sincerely hope that we will have more luck this time and that the youngster can make it all the way to adulthood." The father of the little cub is Laila's long-term partner Copasih, 13, but Laila, 12, will take centre stage in the little cub's early life. In the clip, the bonding between the pair can be clearly seen, as the little cub does not dare to venture too far away from its mum. According to the zoo, the most important thing to do now is give the mother and the cub time to rest, relax and spend time together developing their mother-child bond. As Laila gave birth in an outdoor enclosure, the two are being allowed to roam freely between indoor and outdoor habitats. This will give visitors an opportunity to see them outside and give the mother-and-son duo more freedom. Zoo Leipzig/NF/Peter Barker

This 13-foot-long dinosaur whose fossilised remains were unearthed under the freezing ice sheets of Greenland has earned the name 'Cold bone' in tribute to the location's Inuit people. The dinosaur's scientific name 'Issi saaneq' was chosen in tribute to Greenland's Inuit language and is translated roughly to 'Cold bone'. Despite its size, Cold bone was a herbivore and an ancestor of the diplodocus which is one of the most famous dinosaurs due to its incredibly long neck. According to a statement released by Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, yesterday, 8th November, the two-legged herbivore lived in what is today Greenland 214 million years ago. Cold bone is believed to have weighed up to one tonne and was unearthed by a group of researchers from Germany, Denmark and Portugal. The first clues of Cold bone's existence emerged in 1994 when Harvard scientists working in eastern Greenland found a pair of skulls. However, its existence was not confirmed until the results of CT scans on the skulls were published in a paper titled 'A New Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Late Triassic (Norian) of Jameson Land, Central East Greenland' in the journal Diversity on 3rd November. Dr Oliver Wings of MLU, co-author of the study, said that it was a particularly exciting discovery because Cold bone is closely related to the famous Plateosaurus. The CT scan created a digital model of the skulls clearly showing their internal structures, as seen in the video. Victor Beccari, the paper's lead author, said that the skulls have a unique structure in terms of their shapes and proportions, proving that they come from a new species. According to the study, the new species belongs to a long-necked group of dinosaurs known as sauropodomorphs. The sauropodomorph family includes the diplodocus, which was the largest land animal ever to live on Earth. When Cold bone roamed Greenland in the Late Triassic Period, the landmass was not the largely uninhabitable icy world that it is today. During this period, there was a diverse and rich ecosystem in the region with plenty of greenery to keep Cold bone and other dinosaurs fed. The Late Triassic was a period of change during which the Pangaea supercontinent diverged and the Atlantic Ocean was formed. This change in the world's geography allowed plant-eating dinosaurs to reach Europe for the first time, said Professor Lars Clemmensen. Cold bone marks the first proof of a recognisable Greenlandic species of dinosaurs and represents an addition to the already diverse number of species identified from the Late Triassic period. Once the analysis of the skulls is completed, they are expected to be moved to the Natural History Museum of Denmark. Victor Beccari/NF/Peter Barker

This is the moment a dog that got itself stuck at the bottom of an abandoned well starts to wildly wag its tail and celebrate as an Italian firefighter arrives to save its life. The footage was released by the Vigili del Fuoco, which is Italy's institutional agency for fire and rescue service, yesterday, 7th November. The dog was rescued from an abandoned well in the woods near the town of Guidonia in the region of Lazio. As seen in the footage, the firefighters arrived at the well and set up a winch system so that they could safely get down to the distressed dog. One member of the Vigili del Fuoco is carefully lowered to the bottom of the well, which was reportedly six metres (19.7 feet) deep. As the firefighter slowly approaches the bottom, the dog becomes increasingly excited as it realises that help is on the way. The dog begins to run around in circles and rub itself against the firefighter, making his job even harder as he attempts to get ahold of the dog for the ascent. After attaching a full-body harness to the dog, the firefighter is winched out by his colleagues while the dog waits for its turn to be lifted from the well. The dog can be seen flailing about as it is slowly winched out of the well where it had spent an unspecified number of days. As the dog approaches the top of the well, it reaches out with its paws as it tries to grab onto some solid ground while the firefighters celebrate the successful rescue operation. The dog reaches the surface and becomes very excited, even jumping on several of the firefighters that saved it from the well. The rescue team can be heard celebrating its successful mission that appeared to involve a at least half a dozen workers and some heavy machinery. According to a statement made by the Vigili del Fuoco, the dog was in good health and has since been returned to its owners. No further information about the dog or its owners was provided and it is not clear how long it spent at the bottom of the well. The Vigili del Fuoco did not state whether the dog suffered any injuries when it fell into the well, but in the footage, it appeared to be walking, running and jumping around without any obvious issues. @emergenzavvf/CZ/Peter Barker

This is the adorable moment a small bear in Colorado takes a bath in a large puddle it found in the woods. The footage shows the cute bear, which appears to be quite small, relaxing in the muddy water, rolling around and rinsing itself off as the footage ends. The footage, which has notched up over 2,000 views in 24 hours, was shared online by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife North-East Region, who said: “A bear finds a little water in the forest to cool off in.” North American brown bears are beginning their hibernation period, which lasts from between late October and mid-November to March and springtime. Hibernation requires considerable amounts of food so that bears can put on enough fat to survive sleeping through the cold winter months before they emerge in spring. The US National Park Service says on its website: “Bears spend the winter hibernating in dens to avoid the cold weather and lack of abundant food sources. During their winter slumber, bears’ bodies drop in body temperature, pulse rate, and respiration. Their bodies use the fat they stored in the summer as energy. It is currently unclear why this bear is not yet hibernating but the Colorado Parks and Wildlife North-East Region has also warned people about them, saying in a post on Twitter featuring a bear snapped at night wandering around a suburban neighbourhood: “Bears are still active. Do not give them a reason to visit your house or neighborhood by leaving trash unsecured, having birdfeeders out, garages left open or other food sources they can access.” The Colorado Parks and Wildlife warns on its website: “Today, bears share space with a rapidly growing human population. Black bears are curious, intelligent, and very resourceful; they will explore all possible food sources. If they find food near homes, campgrounds, vehicles, or communities, they’ll come back for more. “Bears will work hard to get the calories they need, and can easily damage property, vehicles, and homes. Bears that become aggressive in their pursuit of an easy meal must often be destroyed. “Every time we’re forced to destroy a bear, it’s not just the bear that loses. We all lose a little piece of the wildness that makes Colorado so special. “So please, learn to protect bears by being ‘Bear Aware’, and share this information with your friends, neighbors, and community. We’re here to help!.” @CPW_NE/CZ/Joe Golder

This footage shows wildlife officers in Colorado 'evicting' a bear from under a local's house after it apparently decided it was a good spot to build a den and hibernate. The incident took place in the town of Nederland, which is located in Boulder County in the US state of Colorado. The bear had apparently dug under the foundation of the house to make itself a nice warm den for winter. Colorado is home to a large number of black bears that look for places in October and November where they can hibernate. Females will then usually give birth in January to one or two cubs. The footage shows an unnamed wildlife officer, in jeans and wearing a cap while armed with a shotgun, pouring a liquid, later revealed to be ammonia, over the entrance to the bear's 'den', to flush it out while saying "I've got this". The officer then carefully backs away from the entrance to the hole before the bear's head can be seen emerging from it a few seconds later. Someone can be heard shouting "Go!" and the large bear promptly runs off in the opposite direction. Footage shot from a different angle shows the bear making its hasty escape while people can be heard repeatedly shouting "Go!" at it to encourage it to leave. The footage was shared online by Colorado Parks and Wildlife on 4th November and the agency said: "Wildlife officers got a call from a [Nederland] resident of a bear that was trying to den-up under their house. "It had dug a hole under their foundation. Wildlife officer Sam Peterson hazed the bear away by using some ammonia before securing the hole so the bear could not return." Bears in Colorado tend to look for places to hunker down for the winter in early November, according to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife service. The bears in Colorado, which have noses that are 100 times more sensitive than those belonging to humans and which can smell food over five miles away from their location, tend to do this when their sources of food diminish. It is because their noses are so sensitive that ammonia is so effective as a deterrent against bears. The Colorado Parks and Wildlife service says in one of its educational documents: "If you find bleach or ammonia fumes unpleasant, you can imagine what they smell like to a bear. "Bleach or ammonia based cleaners are good for trash cans and other areas where strong scents could attract bears. Some people have had some success with covered buckets or other containers filled with bleach or ammonia, with holes punched in the lids to let the scent out, placed outside bear-accessible doors and windows. "Bears also dislike the strong scent of pine-based cleaners, but avoid using anything with a fresh, lemony or fruity smell. And never mix bleach and ammonia; the combination produces fumes that can be deadly to both people and bears." @CPW_NE/NF/Joe Golder

This is the moment an adorable leopard cub nibbles on its mother’s tail and ignores the annoyed warning growls that she makes. The cute cub has been named ‘Manju’, which Leipzig Zoo press officer Melanie Ginzel told Newsflash came from India. It means ‘the sweet one’ and it was given to the cub by zookeepers at the animal park in the city of Leipzig in the German state of Saxony. The little Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) was born at the animal park on 3rd September. The zoo said the name Manju was unanimously decided on by zookeepers, adding that it perfectly suits the cub’s soft fur, blue eyes and large paws. Zoo director Professor Jorg Junhold said: “Leipzig Zoo registered Manju as the first cub to be born in Europe this year, according to the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP). “Therefore, we are all more than pleased to be able to announce the first offspring in 2021. “Because the rarest big cat species and the rarest mammal in the world is threatened with extinction, we have been able to make an important contribution to the conservation of the species.” He added that Amur leopards are the rarest subspecies of leopards in the world with only between 100 and 250 specimens left in the wild. According to the zoo, little Manju keeps leaving its whelping box to frolic with its eight-year-old mum Mia in the mother’s room, adding that it won’t be long until they can be seen together in the outdoor enclosure. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species categorises Amur leopards as ‘critically endangered. Zoo Leipzig/NF/Lee Bullen

These small fish rub against great white sharks and a new study argues that it could be so they can exfoliate their skin and remove parasites. A team of researchers led by the University of Miami (UM) Shark Research and Conservation Program at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science discovered that the risky behaviour exhibited by the fish could play a significant ecological role. According to a statement released by UM on Wednesday, 3rd November: "Instances of fish chaffing against sharks has previously been observed, this study finds this cross-species behavior to be more pervasive than previously understood." The researchers used underwater photos, videos and drone footage to study 47 examples of fish rubbing against sharks. The 'chaffing events' were documented at 13 different locations all across the world and varied in length from just eight seconds all the way to five minutes. Sometimes it would be just one fish chaffing against one shark but at times shoals of over 100 would be bumping against several sharks. One case that stood out to the team was recorded by a drone in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa, and showed 25 occurrences of a leervis fish rubbing against an enormous great white shark. The researchers also noted that silky sharks (a species that does not have rough skin) chafe against whale sharks. Lacey Williams, a UM Rosenstiel School graduate student who co-led the study, said: "While chafing has been well documented between fish and inanimate objects, such as sand or rocky substrate, this shark-chaffing phenomenon appears to be the only scenario in nature where prey actively seek out and rubs up against a predator." Neil Hammerschlag, UM Rosenstiel School research associate professor and study co-author, said: "While we don’t exactly know why it's happening, we have a few theories. Shark skin is covered in small tooth-like scales called dermal denticles, which provide a rough sandpaper surface for the chafing fish. "We suspect that chafing against shark skin might play a vital role in the removal of parasites or other skin irritants, thus improving fish health and fitness." The researchers hope that future studies will be able to further develop the theory of why fish seek out and rub against their natural predators. The study was published online under the title 'Sharks as exfoliators: widespread chafing between marine organisms suggests an unexplored ecological role' in the journal Ecology, The Scientific Naturalist on 28th October. University of Miami (UM) Shark Research and Conservation Program at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science/NF/Peter Barker

This footage shows an adorable sable (Martes zibellina), which is a species of marten, jumping up to its suspended hammock to retrieve a toy before dangling down from it like a ninja and dropping to the floor. Buddy the sable lives somewhere in Russia. The animals are mainly found in forests in Russia and the northern Mongolia. sablebuddy/CZ/Joe Golder

These images show a large group of wild flamingos on the Caribbean island of Bonaire, in the Leeward Antilles, and they were shared online by the Bonaire Wild Bird Rehab organisation. bonairewildbirdrehab/CZ/Joe Golder

This is the moment a Kansas firefighter emerges from a burnt down home carrying a family's pet dog. The incident took place in Olathe, which is in Johnson County, in the US state of Kansas. @OlatheFire/CZ/Joe Golder

These images show a cute hedgehog wearing a pumpkin Halloween hat scurrying along to a party on the plush private housing estate of Heng Fa Chuen in Hong Kong. thehedgedog_/CZ/Joe Golder

These images show a polar bear called Haarchaana diving into a large pool to retrieve a pumpkin and some meat after its keepers tossed them into the water at Saint Petersburg zoo in Russia. spbzoopark/CZ/Joe Golder

This is the adorable moment the cute baby panda cub Kaedehama calls up a hiding place to drink some milk at Adventure World, which is located in Wakayama province in Japan. @aws_official/CZ/Joe Golder

This badly burnt cat called Magma has had its whiskers frazzled and paws charred after it spent weeks wandering the Spanish island of La Palma under a volcanic ash cloud before being rescued. The cat survived the ordeal but was badly injured, having had its whiskers partially burnt off by the high temperatures on the Canary Island of La Palma, where the Cumbre Vieja volcano has been spewing ash and lava since 19th September. In the footage that was shared with Newsflash today (4th November) by the local animal rights organisation Leales.org, the white cat is seen undergoing a check-up after it was rescued by two local men named by the organisation as Carles Rabada and David Melero. The two rescuers named the cat 'Magma', according to Leales.org The cat's white fur has been badly tainted by the steady stream of ash that has been spewing from the volcano. According to Leales.org, the cat had been wandering aimlessly on the island for several weeks while getting covered in ash and inhaling the toxic fumes from the volcanic eruption. The charity added that cats are being completely forgotten about by the local government and are essentially "invisible" despite the great number of them currently struggling to survive on the island. The cat in the footage was cleaned up by the vets and underwent several examinations including one on its eyes, which had been affected by the ash and the fumes. The cat's paws had been badly burnt from walking on the hot ground and were wrapped up by the vet to speed up their recovery. The cat was then fed and given something to drink before being put in a cat cage with a thick blanket to rest and recover. Leales.org has been advocating for better protection of pets on the island since the eruption began. It is currently calling for the local government to dispatch drones to monitor the location and status of pets that have been abandoned while preparing plans to rescue the distressed animals. Leales.org has launched a GoFundMe page to cover the vet bills of the animals rescued from the island. Donations can be made via this link: www.gofundme.com/f/rescate-por-dron-a-los-perros-del-volcan and the organisation said that it is looking for a loving family to adopt Magma. The volcanic eruption has seen thousands of people evacuated in thousands of homes destroyed over the last seven weeks. Ash clouds have been disrupting flights and the authorities have urged locals to stay indoors as the fumes from the volcano blanket parts of the island. Over 100 small earthquakes have been recorded daily by the authorities of the last few days. Leales.org/NF/Peter Barker

This is the moment a cop on a boat uses a spade to prod and free a giant anaconda from some riverside branches after it got trapped in them due to the huge animal it had just ingested. Footage shows how an officer from Brazil's Environmental Military Police (PMA) uses the spade to free the five-metre- (16.4-foot-) anaconda from the branches along the Iguatemi River. The incident took place on a stretch of the river in the municipality of Mundo Novo in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul on the afternoon of Monday, 2nd November. The footage shows how the anaconda has a huge bulge in its stomach after having just consumed an unfortunate large animal. It is believed the big snake got trapped in the riverside branches due to its fat belly after gorging on its prey. The PMA said a branch had to be cut to release the reptile. However, once freed, it was unable to go underwater thanks its large lunch keeping it afloat. The officers said they found the anaconda by chance when they were patrolling the area for illegal overfishing. It is not clear what animal the anaconda had eaten, but in a similar case from September, an anaconda was found to have ingested a whole capybara, the largest living rodent. It is not clear which of the four species of anaconda is seen in the latest video. However, from the reptile's appearance, it looks to be a green anaconda (Eunectes murinus). The green anaconda is the heaviest and among the longest known extant snake species. It can weigh up to 154 lbs and reach 17.1 feet in length. PMMS/NF/William McGee

This is the moment a parrot plays peekaboo with CCTV operators while sitting on a traffic camera on a busy Brazilian motorway. The turquoise-fronted amazon parrot (Amazona aestiva), also called the turquoise-fronted parrot, was filmed peering into the traffic camera on the BR-116 motorway near the city of Curitiba in the Brazilian state of Parana on 29th October. The CCTV system is reportedly operated by the road management company Arteris Planalto Sul, which spotted the bird’s antics on the motorway camera and shared the footage on Twitter where it has been viewed 262,000 times. The state environment authority confirmed to Newsflash that the bird was a turquoise-fronted amazon parrot. The playful parrot is not the only bird to show an interest in CCTV cameras set up on Brazilian motorways in recent months. Two toucans were filmed pecking at a surveillance camera on the SP-330 motorway near the city of Campinas in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo on 18th April. Footage from the traffic camera shows how the toucan appears on the railing next to the camera. About halfway through the footage, a second toucan ambles into view and they take it in turns to peck at the camera with their long orange beaks. According to AutoBAn, which manages the motorway, it was the fifth such occurrence of birds being caught on traffic cameras in April, three of them taking place in Campinas. In July, two toucans were filmed putting on a show for CCTV operators before one of them pecked at it with its colourful beak. The spectacle took place on the SP-348 motorway in the city of Sao Paulo on the morning of 5th July. It was remarkably similar to the previous scene involving two toucans in nearby Campinas, with one of the birds also trying to eat the camera. Toucans are native to southern Mexico, Central America and northern and central South America and are famed for their bright markings and large and often brightly-coloured bills. They mostly live in forests, apart from the toco toucan (Ramphastos toco), which is found in savannah and open woodlands. The toucans that were captured by the traffic camera appear to be toco toucans, with their black bodies, white throats and chests and blue skin around the eye. Given its preference for open habitats, the toco toucan has benefitted from widespread deforestation in tropical South America. Arteris Planalto Sul/NF/Lee Bullen

This is the moment an adorable baby panda wanders around his enclosure while playing with his mum, who keeps a close eye on the curious infant. The celebrity baby panda named Kaedehama lives with his mum Ryohama at the Adventure World theme park in Wakayama Prefecture in Japan, and the footage was posted online by the park last Friday, 29th October. According to a statement made by the Adventure World theme park, Kaedehama was born on 22nd November 2020 weighing only 157 grammes (5.5 oz), but has since grown steadily and, despite only being 343 days old, he now weighs 26.3 kilogrammes (58 lbs). In the footage, Kaedehama can be seen walking around his enclosure with his mum keeping close to him. They can be seen enjoying a tussle together and play fighting. Ryohama often grabs her baby and stops him from getting into trouble, especially when exploring the rocky areas of the enclosure. Towards the end of the clip, Kaedehama somehow gets himself stuck in a hole, with only the top of his head visible, but his mum quickly comes to the rescue and attempts to drag him out of by the scruff of his neck. He appears to resist her attempts to help him and slide back into the hole before eventually finding a way to get out of it on his own steam. He can then be seen having a much needed drink from a waterfall embedded in the rocks nearby. Kaedehama was recently featured in a video showing him taking a nap while rain could be heard pounding the roof of the enclosure. The video has since racked up 33,866 views and countless positive comments stating how relaxed the baby panda looks enjoying his afternoon nap whilst precariously balanced on the branch. One Netizen '0 TQ': "I think it's a sense of balance of a panda that can sleep normally even in places where it seems to fall if it moves." 'Rina' wrote: "Kaede is cute. Take a rest and good night." Several others commented on the impressive balancing skills of the baby panda. The theme park said in a statement: "Unfortunately it's raining in Shirahama today! 'Kaedehama' and mother panda 'Ryohama' spend time in the indoor playground. It was 'Kaedehama' who sleeps comfortably on the balance beam while listening to the sound of rain." In 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reclassified the giant panda, (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) from 'endangered' to 'vulnerable', stating that the decade-long effort to save the panda has resulted in some positive progress. Native to South Central China, giant pandas are found in zoos in some 20 different countries outside mainland China. China's 'Panda diplomacy' sees it lend out pandas to zoos all across the world. According to a 2021 report in the American media outlet NPR, there are 1,800 giant pandas living in the wild. ADVENTURE WORLD/NF/Peter Barker

This is the moment Estrella the Galapagos tortoise celebrates her first Halloween in Australia with a carved pumpkin and her favourite flower hibiscus. Estrella was filmed enjoying her Halloween treat at Australian Reptile Park in the Australian state of New South Wales. The new resident is experiencing her first taste of Halloween in Australia after a long overseas journey and quarantine period. The zoo said in a statement: “Happy (almost) Halloween! The Australian Reptile Park’s newest resident, Estrella the Galapagos tortoise, has enjoyed her first Halloween in Australia by feasting on a huge jack-o-lantern, adorned with her favourite flowers – hibiscus!” In the footage, Estrella is seen eating a hibiscus and chomping on the fleshy pumpkin. At one point, a zookeeper teases her with a hibiscus being handing it over and allowing her to quickly devour it. The Australian Reptile Park said: “Pumpkin is a special treat for Galapagos tortoises as they enjoy the different smells, taste and look of the festive treat. “After a long journey across the world and months in quarantine, Estrella is settling in well to her new home at the Australian Reptile Park on the NSW Central Coast.” The zoo also announced that she is getting on well with her new boyfriend in their enclosure: “Earlier this month, she was finally introduced to her boyfriend Hugo when she moved into their shared exhibit. The pair is getting along famously, and Hugo has taken a very special liking to his new roommate.” Daniel Rumsey, head of reptiles, said, “We always get into the Halloween spirit at the Australian Reptile Park, and we thought it was only fitting to feature Estrella as she celebrates her first Halloween in Australia! “Most Galapagos tortoises enjoy hibiscus but Estrella absolutely loves them! We decided to use hibiscus to decorate her special Halloween pumpkin and it went down a treat!” "Hugo and Estrella have been getting along great so far and it's wonderful to see the pair finally interacting after such a long courtship. They're definitely the Reptile Park's hottest couple!" The Australian Reptile Park also announced that it has reopened and as a COVID-Safe business, adding: “As well as the chance to reconnect with nature after months stuck at home, visitors will be able to redeem their Dine & Discover NSW Vouchers at the Park - both at Reception and the on-site kiosk, the Hard Croc Cafe.” Australian Reptile Park/NF/Lee Bullen

This is the moment a cheeky ring-tailed lemur put its head inside a carved pumpkin creating a more comical than scary Halloween photo. The comical pictures were snapped after the ring-tailed lemurs and giant pandas at Vienna's Schonbrunn Zoo, which is the oldest in the world, were offered the chance of tucking into a pumpkin feast ahead of the arrival of Halloween. The pumpkins filled with tasty snacks were placed into the cages or even hung on strings as enrichment for the animals, and entertainment for zoo visitors. Zookeeper Nicolas Cabon said: “Ring-tailed lemurs are very bright. They couldn't wait to get the goodies out. And when everything was taken out, they then played with the pumpkins." Some of the lemurs that were particularly curious even stuck their heads into the pumpkin from below, transforming themselves into creepy pumpkin monsters with the simple gesture. It provided photographer Daniel Zupanc with the perfect material for this snap which was later shared with Newsflash. The lemurs were however not the only beneficiaries of the Halloween feast, with the giant pandas also getting a pumpkin treat. The Schonbrunn female panda, Yang Yang, was seen calmly inspecting her Halloween surprise in panda fashion and then took the goodies out of the orange autumn vegetable piece by piece. Animal keeper Renate Haider said: “There were juicy bamboo shoots hidden in the pumpkin head. We used bamboo leaves as edible hair. "Pandas mainly eat bamboo. They also like vegetables such as sweet potatoes, carrots or peppers, but pumpkin is not usually on their menu.” That and the grinning face however did not deter the pandas from setting to work to cut up the pumpkins, slicing and dicing until the insides are exposed and the tasty treats could be gobbled up. Renata added: "The pandas didn't waste any time demolishing the pumpkins, they only had to roll their big paws back and forth a few times, the pumpkins were quickly history." German zoo in Vienna which is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Austrian capital Vienna was created in 1752. The zoo which covers 17 hectares of land gets around 2 million visitors a year eager to see the 8,000 animals from 700 different species held at the near 300 years old zoo. The ancient buildings at the centre of the various enclosures have been frequently modernised which has helped the zoo win the best zoo in Europe title five times between 2008 and 2018. Tiergarten Schonbrunn/NF/James King

This is the moment Freya the walrus chills out on a Walrus-class submarine after straying from her home in the Arctic in search of food. Freya appeared on a Royal Netherlands Navy submarine in the city of Den Helder in the Dutch province of North Holland this week after first being spotted in the region in September. The walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) entered the waters in the Port of Den Helder and hopped up onto the HNLMS Dolfijn, a Walrus-class submarine of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The animal has been sighted several times off the Dutch coast, including in Harlingen, Schiermonnikoog and Terschelling. Freya probably lost her way from Arctic waters when she was looking for food, according to the news site AD. The Royal Netherlands Navy Submarine Service (Onderzeedienst Koninklijke Marine) posted footage of Freya chilling out on the HNLMS Dolfijn on Twitter on 26th October with the message: “Welcome on board shipmate!” The clip has been viewed nearly 210,000 times. On 27th October, Freya was apparently back again and the Navy posted footage of the walrus swimming alongside the vessel before another clip shows the animal apparently bathing on a semi-submerged part of the vessel. The Royal Netherlands Navy Submarine Service accompanied the footage with the message: “Good morning. We had a lovely bath and started the day fresh. Greetings Freya.” A Navy spokesman said. "We suspect the animal chose the submarine because of its hull shape." According to the Navy, the walrus poses no bother because the submarine has just returned from exercises and is not being used at the moment. The Navy said: “Was it was easy for the animal to climb onto the submarine? Unfortunately, we were unable to ask the walrus." The marine mammal settled in Den Helder last Monday and was then spotted near the ferry terminal on the island of Texel. It was first seen near the island of Schiermonnikoog on 20th September. The walrus has also been spotted near Denmark and Germany. The female walrus has been dubbed Freya after the local broadcaster Omrop Fryslan called on the public to give her a name. Meanwhile, conservationists are calling on the public to leave the walrus alone. According to Sander van Dijk of the Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre, it is easier to keep the public away if the animal has a name: "That also worked in Ireland when a walrus was recently spotted there. When it was given a name, the message that it needed rest came through better." The research centre added that Freya appears healthy and must have plenty of food at her disposal otherwise she would have left the area by now. @ozd_czsk/NF/Lee Bullen

This octopus is living life large after the zoo where it lives made its home 10 times bigger and added caves in which it can hide. The footage shows the octopus in its new environment, which it is sharing with fish species and other Mediterranean invertebrates. The images were shared online by the Basel Zoo in Switzerland. They said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: "The zoo’s common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) now lives in display tank 11 with some fish species and other Mediterranean invertebrates. "The octopus has ten times the amount of space it did before and has lots of caves in the rocks that it can hide away in." The zoo added: "An octopus gives away their hiding spot with the ‘toys’ they collect over the course of their lifetime. "Piece by piece, they build a mountain of mussel and snail shells in front of their cave. The longer an octopus lives in a particular cave, the bigger the pile becomes – and the easier it is to find their hiding place." They said that they had taken advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to do some work on the octopus' home. They said: "Basel Zoo’s vivarium has been home to common octopuses since 2009. Due to their relatively short life expectancy, there have been times when the zoo has not had any of these octopuses and has had to source new ones. "With the pandemic measures, it is not always easy to find new octopuses. The zoo has used this time to ‘octopus-proof’ display tank 11." The zoo said that octopuses are often nocturnal hunters, opting to sleep in their caves during the day. The zoo said: "Octopuses often sleep in their caves during the day. Only when the sun begins to set do they slip out of their caves and go on the hunt for prey such as crabs, snails, mussels and small fish." The zoo explained that there is no doubt a connection between how intelligent octopuses are and their hunting habits. The zoo said: "This predatory diet is probably why octopuses are highly intelligent. Preying on well-defended crabs without hurting themselves on their claws requires more brainpower than grazing in algal meadows. Octopuses are benthic animals, meaning they mostly move around on the seabed or along the rocks on the shore, but they can also swim in open water using a backward thrusting motion." They said that octopuses are even occasionally spotted on land, saying: "On rocky coasts, they can even leave the water for short periods of time and cover short distances on land. They go in search of rock pools, as the animals trapped there make for easy prey." The zoo added that this could be a cause for concern, especially if a particularly intelligent octopus were to escape from its aquarium. The zoo said: "This behaviour must also be considered when keeping octopuses: having an ‘octopus-proof’ tank opening is essential. If an octopus were to escape from its aquarium, the animal could get itself stuck on land or find another tank in the vivarium to sneak into. "Overhangs on the opening of the tank and artificial grass mats should prevent this from happening. All water pipes also have to be secured, as octopuses can contort themselves very easily and fit into tiny crevices and slits." Zoo Basel/NF/Joe Golder

This is the amusing moment several confused pigeons try to eat the seed on a mobile phone video. The pigeon owner, named Ms Lin from the city of Jieyang in the Chinese province of Guangdong, shared the footage on her TikTok account on 19th October. Ms Lin said that she keeps over 20 pigeons in a loft at her home, and that she was watching videos on her mobile phone when she came across an old clip of her feeding seed to a bird. She said she was surprised when several pigeons came running over and started pecking at her phone, apparently trying to get at the birdseed seen in the footage. Ms Lin added that she was concerned the birds’ pecking would damage her phone so she had to stop the video after a while and give them a proper feed. In the footage, a pigeon is seen eating a pile of seed on the ground on the owner’s phone. Meanwhile, around a dozen cooing pigeons gather around Ms Lin’s phone to peck at the colourful seed on the screen. At the end of the clip, one feisty speckled pigeon is seen barging another out of the way before then attacking it to gain a prime position at the ‘feeding table’. Pigeon breeding in China is an incredibly popular sport, with hundreds of thousands of people across the country carrying out the sport. That was underlined by the price paid for a Belgian racing pigeon named Armando that sold to a Chinese bidder for USD 1.4 million. But there are also thousands of amateurs who carry out the sport that first began in the country towards the end of the Ming dynasty with people gambling on the birds for money. It took off again in modern times and in particular, became popular with the introduction of European pigeons, surviving even restrictions introduced at the start of the last century when it was thought that people attending pigeon races might be plotting to bring down the government. However, the restrictions were short-lived and is now once again hugely popular, with only small fees needed to enter races with the potential of large returns. 171038175/AsiaWire/Lee Bullen

This is the moment several wild bobcats chill out in a Colorado family’s garden. The incident was filmed in a garden in Jefferson County in the US state of Colorado and the footage was shared online on 24th October. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) posted the video on social media with the message: “Can you spot all 4 bobcats in this video? Bobcats in an urban setting will generally concentrate where their prey is most abundant and that usually is going to be in riparian corridors.” Although CPW said there were four bobcats in the footage, local reports said there were five. The video shows the bobcats sitting in the shade in a family back garden. According to local media, Colorado boasts a population of about 12,000 bobcats (Lynx rufus), also known as the red lynx, however seeing five at the same time is considered extremely rare. The local authorities advise residents to keep a distance if they encounter a bobcat, and to make sure children and pets are kept away. The CPW says on its website: “The bobcat is a familiar animal, but it is secretive and seldom seen. The animals are 32–37 inches long with a tail about 6 inches in length. Bobcats are similar in appearance to their cousin, the lynx. “Indeed, they are especially difficult to distinguish in the Southern Rockies, where the local bobcat is large and pale in color (several points of contrast are provided in the profile of the lynx). Hasty observers sometimes confuse mountain lion kittens - which are spotted - with bobcats or lynx, but that is a careless error because young cougars have distinctly long tails.” @CPW_NE/NF/Lee Bullen

A researcher in Canada has discovered the oldest non-marine crab ever which also happens to be the most complete fossil of a crab ever discovered because it was trapped in amber for over a 100 million years. The University of Alberta said in a statement that the discovery was made by one of their PhD graduates "whose work adds to growing evidence that the crab form is an evolutionary darling". The crab in question was found encased in a piece of amber jewellery at a market in the city of Tengchong, which is located in Yunnan Province, in south-western China, in 2015, according to the university. Javier Luque, who is a research associate at Harvard University and a former post-doctoral researcher at Yale University, and who began studying the fossilised crab trap in amber as a University of Alberta PhD student, said: "This crab is telling us a very interesting story about the tree of life of crabs." He added: "There is a lot of excitement about crab evolution, because evolution has produced crab-like forms, known as carcinization, many times independently." The University statement said: "Luque explained that evidence provided by the molecular record, which is built by comparing similarities and differences in DNA and RNA, predicts that non-marine crabs — such as the Christmas Island red crabs that live in mountains or the freshwater crabs in rivers all over the world — split from their marine counterparts more than 125 million years ago. "However, the fossil record on non-marine crabs, which consists of only tiny bits and pieces of claws, indicated that marine crabs conquered land and freshwater much later, somewhere between 75 and 50 million years ago." Luque said: "So we’ve had this gap between the predicted molecular time of split of non-marine crabs and the known fossil record of about 50 million years." The University explained that Luque was approached about the crab trapped in amber by an expert in vertebrate snake biology called Professor Michael Caldwell. Luque said: "When I saw it for the first time I could not believe my eyes. This spectacular crab looks so modern, like something you may find in British Columbia flipping rocks, but it is actually quite old and different from anything seen before, fossil or alive." The university said that Luque was solicited for his expertise "stemming from his work on crab evolution and the discovery of the 95- to 90-million-year-old Callichimaera perplexa, a swimming arthropod known as the platypus of crabs because of its unusual mixture of body features, such as its cartoonish anatomy that included googly eyes, a long body and long paddle-like legs." The University statement also said that Luque believes this new branch in the "crab tree of life — named Cretapsara athanata" ("the immortal Cretaceous spirit of the clouds and waters”), was most likely "trapped in brackish or freshwater near a coastal environment during the Cretaceous period 100 million years ago." The University added that the fossilised crab trapped in amber for over 100 million years "not only represents the oldest non-marine crab yet described, but it is also the most complete fossil crab ever discovered." Elizabeth G. Clark, UC Berkeley, courtesy of Javier Luque, Harvard University,Alex Duque, courtesy of Javier Luque, Harvard University/NF/Joe Golder

This is the moment Aussie zookeepers remove an alligator called Kanye from the lagoon it shares with 54 others after it grew aggressive during the mating season. The ‘bad boy’ alligator was captured at its home lagoon in the Australian Reptile Park, which boasts the largest population of American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) in Australia, in the state of New South Wales after it started acting aggressively when the warm weather kicked in and the mating season started. According to a statement by the reptile park, 20 new alligators were introduced in March this year, however, Kanye has recently started to charge at zookeepers while acting aggressively towards the 54 other alligators in the lagoon during the mating season. Kanye has been so aggressive that zoo bosses decided to isolate him for a while to let him “cool down”. Park director Tim Faulkner said: “Ours is normally a very quiet lagoon, with no major altercations taking place. We even saw this earlier this year when we added the additional 20 males to our lagoon. “However, Kanye has come out of hibernation explosive, therefore, a danger to himself, to the other alligators and staff. “Kanye has made the other alligators very tense. He’s a young bloke, full of testosterone, and he’s raising havoc right now, so the best thing to do is to send him to the naughty corner for some quiet time out. “American alligators have one of the strongest jaw pressures of any animal and one bite can be life-threatening, so our amazing team had to take extreme care during the removal.” The park said that Kanye weighs around 400 kilogrammes and is nearly four metres long. In a statement, the Australian Reptile Park said: “It took a highly skilled team of over a dozen keepers to locate and catch him from the lagoon. He was then transported to an isolation area, where he’ll spend a month or so calming down.” The zoo added: “It’s hoped that Kanye will return to the lagoon once the peak breeding season has ceased, and his hormone levels have returned to normal.” Now the park has reopened following COVID-19 restrictions, bosses are encouraging visitors to view the alligators “being fed in all their prehistoric glory during the spectacular alligator feedings that take place on weekends”. The American alligator is native to the southeastern USA and is bigger than the only other alligator species, the Chinese alligator. Australian Reptile Park/NF/Lee Bullen