A grey big-eared bat leaves its roost to forage. The conversion of traditional stone barns to rural homes has meant the loss of safe roosting sites, which has contributed to the species’ decline. Today, the remaining nine grey long-eared bat roosts in England are all in rural buildings.
A captive platypus in Melbourne, Australia. The unique monotreme - a mammal that lays eggs, sports venomous spurs and has a duck-like bill – is endemic to Australia and threatened due to habitat loss.
The Sehuencas water frog 'Romeo', photographed in captivity at Museo De Historia Natural Alcide d'Orbigny, Bolivia. Amphibians are said to be an indicator species for climate change, and this particular species of frog – whose status in the wild is unknown, but likely desperate – is yet to breed in captivity. This individual was secured a potential mate from the wild – 'Juliet’ – in the hope she would breed with him; she is yet to.
A Eurasian red squirrel at the Wildwood Trust, Canterbury. British red squirrels have had their range squeezed by the introduction of the American grey squirrel, which outcompetes the red in its habitat and carries the squirrelpox virus – fatal in the smaller red squirrel.
A male rhino named Harapan poses at the White Oak Conservation Center in Florida, where he lived briefly before being moved to the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Indonesia.
Monarch butterflies sunbathing on tree trunks in Michoacan, Mexico.
