The Last Gasp: In this remarkable photograph, a fish takes its final breath as it is squeezed firmly in the sharp beak of a kingfisher. The brightly colored bird swooped on the unsuspecting fish after spending minutes watching the water, trying to spot its prey. Then he posed with his catch before devouring it in one mouthful.
Splash News
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Horse trainer Karen Murdock plays with her horse, Lukas. Lukas, a 16-year-old, 1,200-pound thoroughbred gelding, and Murdock have been together for six years. She helped him forget years of abuse and taught him tricks that have made the pair a popular Internet draw for school children and animal lovers alike.
AP Photo
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Ghali, a Grant’s Zebra colt (equus quagga boehmi), in the zoo in Basel.
EPA
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A newborn baby elephant uses its trunk as he makes his first steps next to his mother in Amersfoort Zoo. The newborn elephant was born on Nov. 10.
AFP/Getty Images
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A piel roja monkey (saguinus oedipus) born in captivity one month ago climbs onto his mother at the Santa Fe Zoo in Medellin. The piel roja monkey is an endangered species.
REUTERS
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Two-year-old panda Fu Long eats bamboo in his enclosure at the Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna. Fu Long will leave Austria on Nov. 18 for a panda habitat in Chengdu in the Chinese province of Sichuan.
AP Photo
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Zimba, a male lion cub, and Bogi, a male Puli dog, are seen at Gyoengyoes Zoo, 49 miles east of Budapest, Hungary. Zimba was donated to the zoo by a private donor in Italy and will be raised by Bogi.
AP Photo
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A female great antshrike (Taraba major) (L) feeds her chick at estuaries of Ibera, Corrientes, Argentina.
AFP/Getty Images
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A critically endangered African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) hunts a Bush buck in the Mana Pools National Park, a World Heritage Site, in northern Zimbabwe. There are only an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 of the efficient predators left in the wild in Africa.
REUTERS
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A cormorant swims at the Ibera Natural Reserve, located in the province of Corrientes, northeast of Argentina.
AFP/Getty Images
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Two ostrichs eat near estuaries of Ibera, Corrientes, Argentina.
AFP/Getty Images
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A great egret (Ardea alba) flies at Esteros del Ibera Natural Reserve – an immense system of humedals located in the Argentine northeastern province of Corrientes, near the town of Carlos Pellegrini.
AFP/Getty Images
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A bald eagle sits on a branch overlooking ponds at Water Works Park in Des Moines, Iowa.
AP Photo
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A migrating pelican spreads its wings on a fish pool at Kibbutz Maagan Michael north of the Israeli city of Hadera.
REUTERS
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A Himalayan langur rests on a tree inside Dachigam National Park on the outskirts of Srinagar .
REUTERS
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A pied kingfisher rests above a fish pool at Kibbutz Maagan Michael north of the Israeli city of Hadera.
REUTERS
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Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, two giant pandas from China, are displayed in their new enclosure at the Taipei City Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan. After inspecting the pandas at the Taipei Zoo, Chinese panda expert Zhang Hemin said a separation of a month or two might rekindle the affection needed to reproduce.
AP Photo
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A vulture flies outside of the unique vultures sanctuary, after being marked and released to freedom on the northern island of Cres near Zagreb. Since the sanctuary was founded in 1993, a total of 95 birds have been rescued, healed and released into the wildness. Also, more than 600 young birds have been marked with rings and wing tags. Croatia’s vultures, or Eurasian griffons, are the only ones nesting just some 33 feet above the sea level, as they used to do for the past 10,000 years, but Urbanization destroys their habitats, tourists disturb them and they often become collateral victims of the illegal poisoning of wild boars, brought on the island by hunters.
AFP/Getty Images
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A unnamed female giraffe being cleaned by her mother Kita at the Miami Metrozoo in Miami. The calf was born last Tuesday, weighed in at 135 pounds and stands almost 6-feet tall.
AP Photo
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A shortfin dwarf lionfish (dendrochirus brachypterus) swims in the aquarium of the zoo in Basel, Switzerland.
EPA
