Animal pictures

The Telegraph has an interesting weekly gallery of animal pictures. Here are a few examples from the latest edition, reduced in size to fit this blog, along with their captions from the gallery.

A kingfisher shows a blatant disregard for the rules as it is caught sitting on a 'no fishing' sign with a fish in its beak. The rebellious bird swooped down to perch on the sign with a mouth full of fish and appeared to be reading the warning. The moment was captured by photographer Dean Mason from Bournemouth, Dorset.

A skunk blasts an inquisitive fox in the face with his scent. Amateur snapper Jocelyn Rastel Lafond captured the episode on camera in Lavaltrie near Montreal, Canada, and said: "It was really funny to watch their interaction. The fox had such a ridiculous expression after getting sprayed."

A protective elephant mother fights off a pack of hyenas to protect her calf. The hyenas had pounced on the baby elephant when it became separated from its mother. She stampeded towards the predators, kicking out her feet at the pack, which soon scattered. James Weis, a guide with the tour company Eyes on Africa, was leading a group of visitors in the Linyanto bush in Botswana at the time. He said: "The baby had its tail bitten off but was all right. It is fairly common to see elephants in Africa with no tail."

There are many more images at the link. Recommended viewing.

Peter