Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters
A Belarussian military instructor trains her dog in a frontier guards' cynology center near the town of Smorgon, 87 miles northwest of Minsk on Jan. 11. The center prepares instructors with trained dogs for guarding Belarus's border and sells other puppies and dogs unfit for service to civilians in the country.
Australian Reptile Park via EPA
Zookeepers at the Australian Reptile Park stand on scales as they weigh a 21-foot-long python named Atomic Betty, on Jan 9. Reports state that the 14-year-old python weighed in at over 304 pounds.
Viktor Drachev / AFP - Getty Images
A woman feeds ducks in the village of Pererov, central Belarus, on Jan. 8.
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Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images
Simon Lenihan, a full time commercial horse logger, removes a Scots Pine tree from the Balmoral Estate with Sultan De Le Campagne, a 15 year old Belgian Ardennes horse, on Dec. 11 in Balmoral, Scotland.
The Prince of Wales is the Patron of The British Horse Loggers, an association that works to promote horse logging and support professional horse loggers. The horses working at Balmoral are being used in place of large timber machines to minimize any damage to vegetation, soils and water-tables.
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Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images
Simon Lenihan, a full time commercial horse logger, removes a Scots Pine tree from the Balmoral Estate with Salome Du Pre Renier, a 4 year old Belgian Ardennes horse, on Dec. 11 in Balmoral, Scotland.
Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images
Simon Lenihan, a full time commercial horse logger, removes a Scots Pine tree from the Balmoral Estate with Sultan De Le Campagne a 15 year old Belgian Aldennes horse on Dec. 11 in Crathie, Aberdeenshire.
Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images
Simon Lenihan, a full time commercial horse logger, removes a Scots Pine tree from the Balmoral Estate with Sultan De Le Campagne, a 15 year old Belgian Ardennes horse, on Dec. 11 in Balmoral, Scotland.
Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images
Simon Lenihan, a full time commercial horse logger, removes a Scots Pine tree from the Balmoral Estate with Salome Du Pre Renier, a 4 year old Belgian Ardennes horse, on Dec. 11 in Balmoral, Scotland.
Ulrich Perrey / AFP - Getty Images
German hobby shepherd Wolfgang Grensens bottle feeds his lamb, Wally, in Luebeck, northern Germany.
Ulrich Perrey / AFP - Getty Images
Wolfgang Grensens bottle feeds his lamb Wally as his Australian shepherds play in Luebeck.
Ulrich Perrey / AFP - Getty Images
Wolfgang Grensens goes for a walk with his lamb Wally and his three Australian shepherds in Luebeck, northern Germany.
Hobby shepherd, Wolfgang Grensens, decided to raise Wally, a six-week-old East-Prussian Skudde lamb, after its mother died.
Sara Stathas / Reuters
From voting doggies to silly monkeys, to baby rhinos and cats competing, get your cuteness fix with irresistible photos of creatures great and small.
Julie Jacobson / AP
In this Oct. 31, 2012 photo, twenty-five captured big horn sheep await transport to Utah in a trailer near Henderson, Nev. In an attempt to help repopulate areas of southern Utah, fifty sheep from the River and Muddy mountains in southern Nevada are being captured for relocation to Grand Staircase National Monument.
Julie Jacobson / AP
After examining a big horn sheep for injury and illness biologists from the Nevada Division of Wildlife carry the animal to a trailer for transport to Utah.
Julie Jacobson / AP
A helicopter gently lowers the animals to the ground for biologists to examine, near Henderson, Nev. In an attempt to help repopulate areas of southern Utah, fifty sheep from the River and Muddy mountains in southern Nevada are being captured for relocation to Grand Staircase National Monument.
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Schalk Van Zuydam / AP
Tourists Alexandre Casias, center back, and Emilie Vachon, not in photo, from Montreal in Canada, have their car raided by Baboons, at Millers Point on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, Oct 24.
Two baboons raided a car belonging to two Canadian tourists at Millers Point on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. Monitors with paintball guns track baboon troops to keep them from getting into trouble, but that does not always keep them from mischief.
Schalk Van Zuydam / AP
Baboons raid a car belonging to tourists Alexandre Casias, partially seen in background, and Emilie Vachon, right, from Montreal in Canada at Millers Point on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, Oct. 24.
Schalk Van Zuydam / AP
A close up of a baboon with a tracking collar at Millers Point on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, Oct 24. Baboon monitors armed with Paintball Guns attempt to prevent baboons raiding cars, houses, dust bin's. The baboon monitors spend their days following baboon troops across the cape peninsula to ensure they do not misbehave.
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Schalk Van Zuydam / AP
An African penguin is washed with a toothbrush by staff at the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) after it was found covered in oil on Robben Island near Cape Town, South Africa, Sept. 5.
Schalk Van Zuydam / AP
An African penguin is washed by staff at the SANCCOB.
Approximately 55 African penguins that were found covered in oil were being cleaned by staff from the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds on Wednesday. The penguins, which were found on Robben Island near Cape Town, South Africa, will be released into the wild after cleaning. The oil leaked from the Turkish stricken bulk carrier Seli One, according to the Associated Press. According to the South African Broadcasting Corporation,
The Seli One was hit by a storm at Dolphin Beach on Friday, which resulted in a wreckage that leaked the oil. More than a kilometer of the coastline was polluted and the run-off streaks are continuing to spread. The oil is not expected to move further north, but the City of Cape Town has still appealed to the Transport Department to remove the Seli One from the coastline. Continue reading.
Schalk Van Zuydam / AP
An African penguin is washed by staff at SANCCOB.
Schalk Van Zuydam / AP
An African penguin drys under a warm light after being washed by staff at SANCCOB.
Anupam Nath / AP
A villager offers flowers to a female adult elephant lying dead in a paddy field in Panbari village, India, Saturday, Sept. 1. The elephant was hit by a train and killed while crossing railway tracks with a herd of wild Asiatic elephants.
See a PhotoBlog post about another elephant killed by a train in India in August.
Craig Lassig / AP
Leroy Bergstrom of Maple Plain, Minn. arrives with his cat Maestro before the Walker Art Center's first "Internet Cat Video Film Festival," showcasing the best of cat films on the Internet in Minneapolis on August 30, 2012.
Craig Lassig / AP
The Associated Press reports — The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis tested the boundaries of legitimate art Thursday with a film festival devoted to the online cat videos that pervade YouTube and social networks.
Organizers said they wanted to find out whether the private experience of viewing the videos online would translate to a shared and social experience when shown on an outdoor screen on the museum's grounds.
The festival made room for various kinds of cat videos, with categories for comedy, drama, foreign, animated, musical, art-house and documentary. Participants voted on a "People's Choice" award, and several "lifetime achievements" were handed out to a few of the all-time popular videos. Read the full story.
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Craig Lassig / AP
Melisande Charles of St. Paul, Minn., center, sits in the audience.
Andrew Cowie / AFP - Getty Images
A zookeeper strokes a penguin on a scale during the annual weigh-in at London Zoo on Aug. 22.
Facundo Arrizabalaga / EPA
A meerkat climbs a scale on which another animal is already been weighed during the zoo's annual weigh-in at ZSL London Zoo, Aug. 22.
Andrew Cowie / AFP - Getty Images
A zookeeper measures Dirk the giant tortoise during the annual weigh-in at London Zoo on Aug. 22.
Oli Scarff / Getty Images
Giraffes are weighed and measured during the ZSL London Zoo 's annual weigh-in on Aug. 22.
Oli Scarff / Getty Images
Zookeeper Don McFarlane weighs and measures an African Millipede during the zoo's annual weigh-in on Aug. 22.
ZSL’s Zoological Director, David Field says: “We need to know the vital statistics of every animal at the Zoo – however big or small."
Zookeepers at the London Zoo are responsible for more than 16,000 animals, spending countless hours recording the weight and measurements of each and every animal, including penguins, meerkats, lions and owls. The measurements are collated in the Zoological Information Management System, from which zoologists can use the data to compare information on thousands of endangered species.
“This information helps us to monitor their health, their diets and their general well-being. By sharing it with other zoos and conservationists, we can use this knowledge to protect wild animals, and use it to assess their health, their behaviours and even their ages,” said Field.
Facundo Arrizabalaga / EPA
Giraffes await to go out at the London Zoo, Aug. 22.
Mark Humphrey / AP
Deer eat from a bird feeder on Aug. 18, in Nashville, Tenn.
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