Wild Things

The Dog (and Meerkat and Polar Bear) Days of Summer

American Eskimo
An American Eskimo named Ziggy crashes on a wave during the small dog competition in the 10th annual Petco Unleashed surf dog contest at Imperial Beach, California, Aug. 1, 2015. “Eskies” are good companion dogs known for friendly temperment and delight in participating in family activities. They became a popular breed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as circuses prized Eskies for their easy trainability and charming appearance, and families fell in love after the show was over.

Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters

Beluga whale
A beluga whale sprays water toward visitors at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama, suburban Tokyo, July 20, 2015. Beluga whales are one of the most vocal types of whale, commonly found in the Arctic Ocean’s coastal waters, as well as subarctic waters. Threats to the beluga whale in its natural habitat include killer whales, humans and their carbon footprint, and polar bears.

Photo by Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images

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Female polar bear Anori swims during a hot summer day at the zoo of Wuppertal, Germany, July 2, 2015. Polar bears can swim 6 miles per hour and are known to swim long distances, as far as 60 miles at a time.

Photo by Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters

Meerkat
Meerkats wait for food during a hot summer day at the zoo in Madrid, Spain, July 2, 2015. Meerkats live in groups of up to 40 to 50 animals, led by an alpha couple (the female is the matriarch) to whom the rest of the group is related. 

Photo by Andrea Comas/Reuters

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A bonnet macaque sits on consecrated idols of snakes as it eats a pomegranate left behind as an offering by devotees during the Nag Panchami festival inside a temple on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India, Aug. 19, 2015. The bonnet macaque has a linear dominance hierarchy, and though males are dominant over females, the male chain of command is far more aggressive and unstable.

Photo by Abhishek Chinnappa/Reuters

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Silvery gibbon Alangalang holds her seven-day-old baby at Prague Zoo, Aug. 3, 2015 in Prague, Czech Republic. According to Prague Zoo, the baby is the first silvery gibbon to be born in the Czech Republic. Silvery gibbons are found only on the island of Java, where only 2,000 silvery gibbons remain in the wild.

Photo by Matej Divizna/Getty Images

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A young seal looks out of a box on the island Juist, northern Germany, July 28, 2015, before being released. The seals were reintroduced into the wild from a breeding station in Norddeich.

Photo by Carmen Jaspersen/AFP/Getty Images

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A lemur cools off with frozen sherbet at the Saint-Martin-la-Plaine Zoo, southeastern France, July 2, 2015, as a blistering heatwave sweeps through Europe.

Photo by Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/AFP/Getty Images

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A seagull eats takeaway food left on the harbourside at St Ives on July 28, 2015, in Cornwall, England. Recent attacks by herring gulls on people and their pets has led British Prime Minister David Cameron to call for a discussion on ways of managing the birds, which are currently protected but have been seen as an increasingly aggressive pest, especially in popular tourist seaside resorts and also in urban town and city centers.

Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images

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A chipmunk enjoys an ear of corn at a park on Aug. 30, 2015, in Heihe, China. During warm months, chipmunks load their cheeks, which can stretch up to three times the size of their heads, with food in order to stockpile it at home for winter feeding.

Photo by ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images

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A common squirrel monkey rides on the back of a capybara at the Tobu Zoo in Miyashiro, Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo, Aug. 22, 2015. In the wild, such a pairing would never exist: Squirrel monkeys dwell in trees and the capybara resides along riverbanks.

Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images

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Masha, a female raccoon, plays with plastic dishes in a pot filled with water inside an enclosure at the Royev Ruchey zoo in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, June 7, 2015. According to a zoo representative, the zookeepers arrange games and activities for the animals to keep them entertained and to attract visitors. Raccoons have excellent dexterity, and they clean their food in water before eating whenever possible.

Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters

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A giant panda putting itself on a huge ice cube to cool off during the heat wave in a zoo in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei province, Aug. 4, 2015. Pandas have no specific routine for where they rest; they just lie down wherever they happen to be.

Photo by STR/AFP/Getty Images

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A young child playing with Bon-chan, a 19-year-old male African spurred tortoise weighing about 70 kg (154 pounds), while out walking with his owner Hisao Mitani (right) on a street in the town of Tsukishima in Tokyo, June 10, 2015. Bon-chan loves fruit and vegetables and is often offered carrot and cabbage pieces by cheering neighbors when he is out.

Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images

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Female hippopotamus Renu spends time with her newly born calf in an enclosure at the Assam State Zoo in Guwahati, Inidia, on July 20, 2015. The captive-bred calf was born on the night of June 15. Ancient Egyptians revered the hippopotamus as a female goddess of pregnancy.

Photo by Biju Boro/AFP/Getty Images

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Four-week-old elephant Anjuli cuddles with his brother Assam in Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, northern Germany, Aug. 12, 2015. Along with trumpeting, elephants purr like cats as a means of communications.

Photo by Fabian Bimmer/Reuters

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Rascal, a Chinese Crested, poses for a portrait after competing in the World’s Ugliest Dog Competition in Petaluma, California, June 26, 2015.

Photo by Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

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Sanyu, a five-day-old Rothschild’s giraffe, is pictured during a photocall at Chester Zoo in northwest England, June 12, 2015. Sanyu is the second Rothschild’s giraffe to be born at Chester Zoo in the last six months. Within a half hour of birth, giraffes are able to stand, and they are able to run the same day.

Photo by Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images

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A moose stands in the river Vistula in Warsaw on Aug. 26, 2015. Police are working to catch the animal and release him back into a greener area. Moose shed their antlers every winter and grow new ones in the following spring. 

Photo by Janet Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images

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Imogen Davis holds Rufus, a Harris hawk, on centre court, where it is used to scare away pigeons, ahead of play on day four of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, July 2, 2015, in London. In the wild, Harris hawks engage in a behavior called back standing, where multiple hawks stack on top of each other’s backs when perching areas are scarce.

Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images

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A young lion looks toward the Nairobi skyline at the Nairobi national park on Aug. 10, 2015. With all the attention on the cruel slaughter of Cecil the lion by a U.S. trophy hunter in Zimbabwe, the first international campaign to protect the imposing “king of beasts” kicked off in Kenya on World Lion Day to draw attention to the silent extermination of the big cats around the world, iconised by the African lion and Asian tiger. Some 200,000 lions roamed across Africa a century ago. Today, there are less than 30,000.

Photo by Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images