Week in wildlife: a curious monkey, a Dorset beaver and a football rat

A female (left) and a male black lemur at Lemurs Park, Madagascar. To pass the time, these primates sometimes pick up and bite millipedes that exude a toxic substance in self-defence. The lemurs then rub the millipedes on their fur, getting a psychoactive buzz from the toxin that’s absorbed through their skin

Elephants grazing at Lewa wildlife conservancy, northern Kenya

An albino white-tailed doe with two bucks near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, US

A crow flies under the transparent Sky Pool, a ramp that stretches between two rooftops, 10 storeys high, in the Embassy Gardens housing development in London

A beaver makes its way to the water after a licensed release at the National Trust’s Purbeck Heath nature reserve in Dorset, UK. It was the first beaver to walk free after the government lifted restrictions on releasing the animals into unenclosed areas last month. Gen Crisford, the reserve’s beaver project officer, called it – appropriately – a “watershed moment” for the species

A young bear, rescued from a cage, plays in the snow in Armenia. Brown bears like this one are captured by poachers and used as tourist attractions, sometimes kept in cages for many years

Close call … an alligator makes a failed attempt to snatch a snowy egret near Naples, Florida

Deer graze at sunrise on a frosty spring morning in Bushy Park, south-west London

The body of this sperm whale washed up on the coast of Raasay on Monday – a sad discovery for British Divers Marine Life Rescue, who had treated it over the weekend when it was spotted in difficulties off the coast of Skye. The whale had been wrapped in fishing lines. The rescue team managed to cut some away, but ropes had restricted the whale’s jaw, preventing it from feeding, and it soon died once stranded on Raasay

A deer crosses the track prior to the start of the women’s 10km cross-country classic event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim, Norway

A male lion relaxes during the annual wildlife count at Lewa wildlife conservancy, northern Kenya

A gazelle hides in a wheat field near the Israel-Gaza border, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas

Marcus Rat-ford … a small pitch invader prior to kickoff of the fifth round of the FA cup between Manchester United and Ipswich Town at Old Trafford, Manchester, UK

A type of anteater called a tamandua, rescued from animal traffickers, explores at Bioparque Los Ocarros, Villavicencio, Colombia on World Wildlife Day (3 March), which is celebrated to draw attention to wild plant and animal species and raise awareness of wildlife conservation efforts

A gazelle goes past a pack of beisa oryx at Lewa wildlife conservancy, northern Kenya

A squirrel runs along an electrical wire in Buriram, Thailand

Sea lions suffering from neurological conditions caused by a toxic bloom off the Malibu coast recover at the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro, California, US

Long-eared owl chicks sit on a spruce branch in a park near St Petersburg, Russia

Plastic litters the Antarctic under the curious gaze of penguins. Scientists have found microplastics as small as 11 micrometres (about the size of a red blood cell) in the snow on the remote continent

Flamingos at Lake Van Basin in Van, Turkey

You looking at me? A red colobus monkey checks out its reflection in the camera lens at Bijilo forest park, on the coast of the Gambia