Week in wildlife in pictures: a diva beaver, 100 hungry raccoons and the fattest bear

Boki, a two-year-old brown bear, is prepared for surgery by wildlife veterinary surgeon Romain Pizzi at the Wildwood Trust in Kent, UK. The bear had been having seizures and an MRI scan revealed he had hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain). Officials at the trust later reported that the five-and-a-half-hour surgery to drain off the fluid had “gone to plan”

Nibi the beaver relaxing at home in Newhouse Wildlife Rescue in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, US. A court is deciding whether the photogenic beaver can stay at the centre or must be released back into the wild. The case has caused such an uproar that even the state governor has weighed in. Nibi has been a hit on the rescue group’s social media since she was a baby. A Newhouse staffer said: “She pretty much has full run of the place. Everybody on my team is in love with her”

Graze the roof … a sheep on top of the Fleece Countryside Inn, in Ripponden, West Yorkshire, UK. The intrepid sheep managed to climb on to the roof of the aptly named pub, much to the amusement of guests attending a wedding there. It was later coaxed down safely

Three elephants trapped by rising floodwaters at Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai province, Thailand. Flash floods inundated the famous animal sanctuary, which was forced to evacuate more than 100 elephants, as well as hundreds of other animals including buffalo, pigs, horses, dogs, cats and rabbits. Rescuers in boats tried to guide the elephants to safety by encouraging them to follow a path marked by a rope. Sadly, two did not make it

Invasion of the trash bandits … just a few of the 100 raccoons that surrounded a woman’s home in Poulsbo, Washington, US. She had been feeding a small number, but “somehow, the word got out in raccoon land and they all showed up to her house expecting a meal,” a spokesperson for the sherriff’s office said. They sent deputies to help the woman, who was frightened to leave her home, since raccoons can be aggressive

Flamingos rest at Çakalburnu lagoon, which hosts many migratory bird species, in İzmir, Turkey. Flamingos rest on one leg and use less muscle strength to maintain more heat and balance

Bison roam the land on Antelope Island at the Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City, Utah, US. Introduced to the island in 1893, the bison there remain one of the oldest and largest publicly owned herds in the country

An Anatolian wild sheep, an endemic species unique to Turkey, wanders at the Bozdağ wildlife development centre in Konya. The wild sheep, monitored 24/7 by cameras, live in groups within the steppe structures of the mountains

Cute commute … a koala wandered into Casula train station in Sydney, Australia in the early hours, coming perilously close to the platform’s edge. Luckily, a guard on a passing train noticed it and notified the Sydney Trains security control centre, which ordered incoming trains to slow down when passing through. With the help of some NSW police officers, it found its way back to the bush safe and sound

Starlings bathe near Gaziantep, Turkey

Volunteers evaluate a sick duck that was found at the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge in northern California, US. An avian botulism outbreak has killed more than 90,000 ducks and waterfowl there since late August, the most severe epidemic in the refuge’s history. The US Fish and Wildlife Service ended the collection of sick and dead birds today and estimates that tens of thousands more birds could still fall ill or die in the coming weeks

Bright eyes … an elephant seal takes a sunbath on a beach in Pico Sayago, Patagonia, Argentina

A wet dragonfly lands in a rice field before sunrise in Kathmandu, Nepal

This photograph of a toque macaque sleeping in a parent’s arms, entitled A Tranquil Moment, was the winner in the Behaviour: Mammals category of the 2024 Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. It was taken by Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod from Sri Lanka. See more images in our gallery

A water vole in South Downs National Park, UK. A project to reintroduce river voles – made famous as “Ratty” in The Wind in the Willows – to the area has been declared a success after more than 2,500 signs of activity have been spotted. The Meon Valley Partnership has led the initiative, which has involved more than 2,800 water voles being released along the River Meon in Hampshire since 2013. Their presence has attracted other species such as otters and marsh harriers, enriching the rivers’ biodiversity

Penguins at Port Lockroy in Antarctica. A British team will spend five months there counting penguins and performing conservation work after signing up to one of the world’s most remote jobs

A surprised pheasant in Bursa, Turkey

Absolute unit … 128 Grazer, the winner of the 2024 Fat Bear Contest, at Katmai National Park, Alaska. It was her second year of victory in the competition, which is determined by fans’ votes. She triumphed over a 1,200lb (544kg) bear named Chunk, who also happened to be the one who killed her cub this summer after it slipped over a waterfall