nature
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This scaredy-cat was forced to run for cover when a herd of brave buffalo decided to strike back. The lion found itself outnumbered by its plucky prey and is pictured sprinting away from the African buffalo in the Kruger National Park. The tables turned on the predator when an attempt to pounce on some unsuspecting buffalo failed miserably and left the not so cunning cat with its tail between its legs
| image by Dave Woollacott
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Leopards Fighting, South Africa | image by Richard du Toit
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Forest elephants gather at Dzanga Bai clearing in the Dzanga-Sangha reserve, in Central African Republic.
Elephant meat is flooding food markets in villages near the famed wildlife reserve in Central African Republic one month after rebels believed to be involved in poaching overthrew the government, conservationists said
| image by Carlos Drews
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African Lion Mother and Cub, Tanzania | image by Mitsuaki Iwago
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Millions of straw coloured fruit bats fill the sky over a tiny patch of forest in Kansaka, Zambia. This annual aggregation is thought to be the highest density of mammals anywhere in Africa | image by Justine Evans
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Hanging tens of metres in the air, a young female chimp in the Congo pounds on the nest of stingless bees in her quest for honey, one of the most complicated forms of tool use ever filmed among the great apes of Africa | image: Natural History Unit/BBC
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An armoured ground cricket (Acanthoplus discoidalis), native of the Kalahari, prepares to defend itself by squirting its own blood through joints in its armour | image by Nick Easton/BBC
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Straw-coloured bats flock together during migration in Kasanka national park, Zambia. About 8 million bats make it one of Africa’s largest and most spectacular mammal migrations. The six-foot-wingspan bats live on just one-acre of forest on this huge continent. When they come home to roost after their daily hunt for fruit, each tree holds up to 10 tonnes of bats, making this the highest density mass of warm-blooded mammals on the planet | image by Will Burrard-Lucas
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Dung beetles navigate by the stars 
The humble dung beetle is the first insect known to navigate by the stars. Like sailors of old and Saharan nomads, it can orientate itself by watching the sky.On clear nights, a myriad of stars shine over the deserts and savannahs of Africa where the dung beetle, or scarab, makes its home. While the beetle’s compound eyes are probably too weak to see individual stars, it uses the light of the Milky Way to keep it on a straight course, scientists have found.
The beetles feed on animal dung, which they fashion into a ball and roll to a safe spot where it is less likely to be stolen. Rolling the ball in a straight line ensures they do not circle back to the dungheap, where other scarabs might have gathered.
Scientists wondered how they were able to do this in the dark. “Even on clear, moonless nights, many dung beetles still manage to orientate along straight paths,” said Dr Marie Dacke from Lund University in Sweden. “This led us to suspect that the beetles exploit the starry sky for orientation - a feat that had, to our knowledge, never before been demonstrated in an insect.”
Field experiments on a South African game reserve showed that the beetles were able to roll their dung balls along straight paths under starlit skies, but not in overcast conditions. (Continue reading)
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Coming near | image by fred von winckelmann
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Sun Chaser | image by Marsel van Oosten
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Cheetah Snarl - Etosha National Park, Namibia | image by Mark Vincent Müller
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Marking - The Kalahari | image by Gorazd Golob
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”Tag…your in” - Luangwa riverbank, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia | image by Marc MOL
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Kabarega Falls - Uganda | image by Mostly Tim
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