Altaf Qadri / AP

A domesticated elephant halts at a traffic intersection in New Delhi, India, on Wednesday. There are an estimated 28,000 wild elephants in India, along with thousands of domesticated ones that do everything from performing in shows to carrying heavy loads in the country's big cities.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• A whale takes flight in Mumbai's kite festival
• Indian laundry men spin out decades-old tradition
• Cars wind down a snowy road in India
• High kicks and high hats as India's new security recruits graduate
• Leaking pipeline provides shower opportunity in Mumbai

Slideshow: Punxsutawney Phil, the weather-prognosticating groundhog

David Maxwell / EPA

Groundhog Club 'Inner Circle' member, Ron Ploucha holds Punsxutawney Phil during the Groundhog Day celebration at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Penn.

Launch slideshow

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Patrick Semansky / AP

Inmate John Barba works with Dill, a veteran assistance dog in training, at Western Correctional Institution in Cresaptown, Md. Dill is one of three dogs assigned since September to inmates at the maximum-security prison for basic training as service dogs for disabled military veterans.

The Associated Press reports from Cresaptown, Md. — Hazard Wilson's new cellmate is a hairy bundle of energy whose playful zeal can't be contained by steel doors: a five-month-old golden retriever. Yardley is one of three canines assigned since September to inmates at a maximum-security prison in western Maryland for training as service dogs for disabled military veterans.

The number of programs nationwide using inmates to train service dogs is growing, but the program at Western Correctional Institute might be the first to use incarcerated veterans to train dogs for other veterans.

Patrick Semansky / AP

Dill looks on as inmate John Barba walks away after commanding him to sit and stay. The inmates, who are also veterans, are among the state's first prisoners to join a national trend of training service dogs in correctional institutions.

Professional trainers say prison-raised dogs tend to do better than those raised traditionally in foster homes, because puppies respond well to consistency and rigid schedules. That's just what they get in prison.

Patrick Semansky / AP

John Barba looks at a calendar as he sits in the 6-by-9-foot cell that he shares with Dill, a veteran assistance dog in training.

Wilson, a former military police officer honorably discharged in 1982, said he's proud to help another veteran.

"I feel as though they don't get what they deserve when they come home," he said. "This is a part of why I do what I do." Read the full story.

Editor's note: Images taken on Nov. 26, 2012 and made available to NBC News today.

Patrick Semansky / AP

John Barba walks out of his cell with Dill. Professional trainers say prison-raised dogs tend to graduate sooner and at higher rates than those raised traditionally in foster homes because puppies respond well to the consistency and rigid schedules of prison life.

•Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP

A muddy bullfrog is inspected during a photo call for the annual census at the London Zoo on Jan. 3, 2013.

More than 17,500 animals, including birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and amphibians are counted in the annual census at the London Zoo. The count is a compulsory part of the zoo's license and the information is used for managing international breeding programs of endangered animals. 

Luke Macgregor / Reuters

Zoo keeper Zuzana Matyasova poses with penguins during the annual cataloguing of animals at the London Zoo.

Luke Macgregor / Reuters

Zoo keeper Jeff Lambert poses with leaf insects.

Ben Stansall / AFP - Getty Images

A European Eagle owl during the annual census at the London Zoo.

Luke Macgregor / Reuters

Zoo keeper Grant Kother poses with a Diamond Python.

Ben Stansall / AFP - Getty Images

Penguins swim during the annual census at the London Zoo.

Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP

A male jungle nymph sits on a female jungle nymph during a photo call for the annual census at the London Zoo.

Previously on PhotoBlog: 

• From the smallest to the tallest, zoo animals weigh in
• Bird lovers don disguises to save endangered sandhill cranes in Mississippi
• Camel prepares for turbulence
• 10-day-old baby flamingo makes appearance at zoo in Cali, Colombia

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

Researchers from the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation stand in front of a deceased beached whale in Breezy Point on Dec. 27.

By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News:

An emaciated 60-foot finback whale that washed up on a coastal community devastated by Superstorm Sandy has died, marine officials said Thursday.

The whale was found beached on Wednesday in Breezy Point, Queens, where more than 100 homes burned down and more than 2,000 were damaged during the Oct. 29 storm. It was carried out at high tide but washed ashore another time on Thursday, where marine officials said they found it dead, according to media reports. Full Story

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

An emergency worker reaches out to touch a deceased beached whale in Breezy Point, Queens, in New York City on Dec. 27.

See yesterday's PhotoBlog post on Breezy Point whale: Finback whale beached at Breezy Point, N.Y.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• It takes a whale of a grave to bury ocean giant
• Feeding humpback whales mesmerize onlookers
• 'I'm not sharing my lane with that': Dead humpback whale washes up in seaside pool

Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Ben Nelms / Reuters

Jon Planes holds a large Soupfin shark (Galeorhinus galeus) aboard the Ocean Sunset in the Pacific Ocean off of Ucluelet, British Columbia, June 24, 2012.

Reuters reports — The Ocean Sunset is a commercial fishing boat that hunts sharks as well as other fish for their meat and fins. After the fishermen catch them, dogfish sharks are sent to a processing plant to be cut and distributed. The fins are removed and the body is skinned. The bellies are exported to Germany where they are smoked and sold as beer-garden pub food. The fins are removed and sent to Asia where they are used in shark fin soup - a delicacy in Chinese culture. Animal rights advocates criticize the shark fin harvest but others say that eating shark fins is an old cultural tradition.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers the Soupfin shark vulnerable to extinction. The animal was the mainstay of the shark fishery “boom” between 1936 and 1944, when over 24 million pounds were landed, according to the IUCN.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Images made available to NBC News on Dec. 6

Ben Nelms / Reuters

Newly caught dogfish sharks are pulled aboard the Ocean Sunset commercial fishing boat in the Pacific Ocean off of Ucluelet, British Columbia, June 25.

Ben Nelms / Reuters

A family eats shark fin soup at Vancouver's Grand Honor Chinese restaurant in Vancouver, British Columbia, July 1.

Ben Nelms / Reuters

A shark fin from a Chinese Herbal store is photographed in a studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, July 6.

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

•Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter