A murmuration of about 50,000 starlings over Martin Mere nature reserve at sunset, Merseyside, UK.
Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

A golden pheasant and squirrels in Pingdingshan city, central China’s Henan Province.
Photograph: Liu Xianguo/Xinhua/Barcroft Images

Autumn colour on the historic Silk Road in Bayburt, Turkey.
Photograph: Abdulkadir Nisanci/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

A juvenile Jackson’s climbing salamander. The species was spotted for the first time in 40 years last month by a lunching ranger
Photograph: Carlos Vásquez Almazán

A dead whale on Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Photograph: Pilar Olivares/Reuters

A wild elephant comes down from hills in search of food in Bherkuchi village, Kamrup district, Assam, India. This week is was reported that Donald Trump’s administration plans to allow imports of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe into the US.
Photograph: STR/EPA

A vet examines a young female lynx at a rehabilitation center in Przemyśl, Poland.
Photograph: Darek Delmanowicz/EPA

A rhesus macaque digs through litter in the polluted waters of Yamuna river in Delhi, India.
Photograph: Shams Qari/Barcroft Images

A rainbow at Whitley Bay on the north-east coast of England, UK.
Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA