Week in wildlife in pictures: a seasonal robin and newborn lion cubs in Bedfordshire

Deer cross a road in the Taunus forest near Frankfurt, Germany

Red-crowned cranes in the Wetland Rare Birds National Nature Reserve in Yancheng, China, where they spend the winter. They are considered to be a symbol of good luck and longevity

A wild boar in Baden-Württemberg, south-west Germany. This year saw the first instance of African swine fever among wild boar in western regions of the country, leading France’s agriculture ministry to consider building fences along the border to prevent the virus from infecting French domestic pig herds

Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire, UK has been celebrating the birth of three Northern African lion cubs. Their parents, Winta and Malik, arrived at the zoo last year. The cubs’ birth on 25 November marks a huge conservation success for the vulnerable sub-species

A great blue heron flies in Florida’s Everglades National Park, US

Vets care for a microbat who was admitted to the Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital, Australia. With bushfire season approaching, the all-species wildlife hospital has been forced to reduce its opening hours over Christmas as surging patient numbers take their toll on the workers who provide the vital veterinary service free of charge, seven days a week

A wolf carries its prey inside the buffer zone that separates the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from the rest of Syria

A murmuration of starlings over the Avalon marshes, Somerset, UK

A picture-perfect robin framed in holly puts on a show for the Christmas season in Ipswich, UK

A falcon chick is treated by vets at Antalya Natural Life Park, Turkey. The falcon was found in a box at a bus terminal, and will be released into the wild once it is healed

A turtle joins swimmers in the shallows in Galle, southern Sri Lanka

A swan flaps its wings as it swims along the Murg river in Germany’s Baden-Württemberg region

A clownfish looks slightly grumpy as it peers out from its anemone in Egypt’s Red Sea. Clownfish and anemones have a mutualistic relationship, meaning they help each other out in several ways: the plant provides a hiding place for the fish and food scraps for it to eat, while the fish protects it from predators and fertilises it with its excrement

A water vole peeks from the reeds in Kent, UK. Water voles continue to decline in their distribution across Britain but there are signs of recovery in some regions, with populations bouncing back in parts of Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire and East Anglia thanks to targeted conservation work. Reintroductions, habitat restoration and, crucially, the effective eradication of American mink – the non-native predator responsible for water vole population crashes – are helping the little mammal recover from historic lows

An oceanic whitetip shark in the Red Sea, Egypt, accompanied by a posse of pilot fish, which feed on the same prey – squid

A deer stag walks through undergrowth at sunrise in Richmond Park, London, UK

Elk in Dafeng district of Yancheng City, east China

A pelican fishes at sunset at Butterfly Beach, Montecito, California, UK