2021 was quite a year as pandemic lockdowns and restrictions continued to disrupt lives but in the animal kingdom it was very much business as usual.
Here are some of the highlights:
January
Western lowland gorilla Touni carries her new baby around Gorilla Island at Bristol Zoo Gardens (Ben Birchall/PA)
February
Rescued brown bear cubs Mish (left) and Lucy investigate a heart-shaped pinata stuffed with their favourite treats as part of a Valentine’s Day enrichment programme at the Wildwood Trust in Herne Bay, Kent (Gareth Fuller/PA)A murmuration of starlings pass Glastonbury Tor as they fly off to roost on the Somerset Levels at sunset (Ben Birchall/PA)
March
Spring lambs at Moreton Morrell College in Warwickshire, on the day of the spring equinox (Jacob King/PA)
April
Squirrel monkeys enjoy Easter treats at London Zoo (ZSL London Zoo/PA)
May
Sea lions enjoy their new £2m purpose-built complex at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster, South Yorkshire (Danny Lawson/PA)
June
One of 1,000 hazel dormice released back into the wild at a secret location in Lancashire by wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species in an attempt to save them from extinction in the UK (Peter Byrne/PA)
July
Three Amur tiger cubs explore their outside enclosure for the first time at Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie in the Highlands (Jane Barlow/PA)
August
Asiatic lioness Arya took the annual weigh-in at ZSL London Zoo in her stride (Yui Mok/PA)Campaigners led by owner Helen Macdonald fought long and hard to save Geronimo the alpaca after he twice tested positive for bovine tuberculosis but the story did not have a happy ending (Andrew Matthews/PA)
September
Two-week-old Southern white rhino calf Nandi explores her enclosure for the first time with mother Tuli at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo (Joe Giddens/PA)
October
A ring-tailed lemur at Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling celebrates World Lemur Day with pumpkin puree balls (Andrew Milligan/PA)
November
A mother with her pup at Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in Lincolnshire, where grey seals return every year in late October, November and December to give birth (Danny Lawson/PA)
December
Golden Retrievers Darcy, Boris and Lily sample Hilton’s new festive menu for dogs, at The Biltmore Mayfair in London (David Parry/PA)Resident Joyce Drewitt, 98, p-p-p-picked up a Humboldt penguin that visited the Orders of Saint John Care Trust’s Spencer Court care home in Oxfordshire (Orders of Saint John Care Trust/PA)