In Pictures: Highlights of 2022 in the animal kingdom

PA Wire

As the UK adjusted to a “new normal” with Covid, celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and then mourned her death months later, the country’s animals, birds and wildlife amused and moved us. Here are some of the highlights of the past 12 months.

JANUARY

Luca, one of Edinburgh Zoo’s critically endangered Sumatran tigers is given an enrichment box from the city’s Chinese New Year Festival (PA)

Guinea pigs are weighed during the annual animal health check at Chessington World of Adventures Resort in Surrey (PA)

FEBRUARY

Retired RAF Police sniffer dog Hertz was awarded the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals’ Dickin Medal for finding more than 100 items which posed a threat to the lives of service personnel and civilians in Afghanistan (PA)

A robin in a tree near Clydach Vale, near Tonypandy, in Wales (PA)

MARCH

Recently born polar bear cub Brodie, born at the Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore in the Highlands, explores its enclosure for the first time with his mother Victoria (PA)

Gundog winner Baxer, a flat-coated retriever who has won Best In Show during the final day of the Crufts Dog Show at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre (NEC) (PA)

APRIL

A four-day-old zebra foal, born on Saturday 16 April at the Wild Place Project in Bristol, with12-year-old mum Florence (PA)

Red ruffed lemurs at Blair Drummond Safari Park, near Stirling, enjoy a special Easter treat prepared by their keepers (PA)

MAY

Highland cow Apple with her calf Malin at the National Trust’s Wicken Fen nature reserve in Cambridgeshire, where their grazing will help create habitats for other species (PA)

Fifteen-year-old lioness Julie is given a health check at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster (PA)

JUNE

A puffin flies on the Farne Islands in Northumberland as the National Trust staff undertake the now annual puffin census on the remote island (PA)

JULY

Marina White and her dog Coco take part in a heat during the Dog Masters 2022 UK Dog Surfing Championships at Branksome Dene Chine beach in Poole, Dorset (PA)

AUGUST

Humbolt penguins have their weight taken by zoo keeper Jess Jones during the annual weigh-in at ZSL London Zoo (PA)

SEPTEMBER

Baby Asian elephant Nang Phaya surrounded by the females of the herd in her enclosure at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo (PA)

Domestic pigs make their way across a road in Ibsley in Hampshire, during Pannage, or 'Common of mast', where the animals are allowed to wander in the New Forest during a set time in the Autumn to feast on fallen acorns, which in large quantities are dangerous for ponies and cattle (PA)

OCTOBER

A newborn grey seal pup on the beach at Horsey in Norfolk, as the pupping season begins at one the UK's most important sites for the mammals (PA)

A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment (PA)

NOVEMBER

Morag the six week old Southern white rhino calf in her yard with mum Dot after she was weighed at Blair Drummond Safari and Adventure Park, near Stirling (PA)

Bewick's Swans arrive at Slimbridge Wetland Centre, Gloucestershire, after a 3,500Km migration flight across Europe from nesting spots in Siberia, to spend winter in the UK (PA)

DECEMBER

Stanley the 15-year-old male golden eagle, at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh (PA)