The week in wildlife - in pictures

A roe deer stands in a forest in the state radiation ecology reserve near the village of Babchin in the 30 km (19 miles) exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear plant Photograph: Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters Daffodil flowers at Long Preston village in the Yorkshire Dales national park Photograph: Christopher Thomond/Guardian An oil beetle feeds on a flower close to the coastal path during the first ever nationwide survey to map the location of the threatened and creatures on 24 March near Plymouth, Devon. Often found on the coast, and particularly in the south-west of England, the number of oil beetle species found in the UK has halved in the last 100 years and the survey will help establish the whereabouts of the remaining four species and boost efforts to secure their future Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images A male giant panda sleeps high in a tree in his enclosure at the Bifengxia panda centre near the city of Ya'an in Sichuan Province, China Photograph: Chris Ison/PA A fox makes the most of the sunny weather in a garden in London Photograph: Reinhard Krause/Reuters An adder comes out of hibernation and emerges from its den. The adder is the only venomous snake in Britain but is harmless unless caught or trodden on. They can be distinguished from other snakes by the zigzag pattern on their back Photograph: Nicholas Milton Flowers blossom beneath a canopy of leafless branches on the first day of spring in Wisley Gardens, near Woking, Surrey on 21 March Photograph: Frantzesco Kangaris for The Guardian Mating frogs in Mijoux, eastern France Photograph: ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images A pair of blue herons in a nest in Vancouver, Canada. The blue herons gather each spring to nest in the same area of Stanley Park Photograph: Andy Clark/Reuters Coots swim past a submerged vehicle in Yamada town, Iwate prefecture in northern Japan on 24 March, two weeks after the earthquake and tsunami that struck the country Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recording The Fauna Seasons, the first classical album specifically made for plants to grow to, at Cadogan Hall in London. The unorthodox audience was made up of over 100 different varieties of plants and bulbs including geraniums, fuchsias and perennials Photograph: HO/AFP/Getty Images An unexpected side-effect of the flooding in parts of Pakistan has been that millions of spiders have climbed into the trees to escape the rising flood waters. Because the water has taken so long to recede, many trees have become cocooned in spiders webs. People in this part of Sindh report that there are now less mosquitos than they would normally expect Photograph: Russell Watkins/Department for International Development A trio of striped hyena cubs at the Kenya Wildlife Service headquarters on 24 March in Nairobi where they have lived since they were rescued a month ago. The striped hyena ( Hyaena hyaena ) is considered threatened in many parts of Africa. It has been widely hunted with dogs, poisoned or caught in traps Photograph: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images A picture of Knut, the three-year-old polar bear, taken in January in his enclosure at Berlin's Zoologischer Garten zoo. Knut died suddenly on 19 March 2011 , a probable victim of undiagnosed brain damage, his zoo said. Berlin zoo said in a statement that a preliminary necropsy revealed 'significant changes to the brain, which could be seen as the reason for the sudden death of the polar bear' Photograph: John Macdougall/AFP/Getty Images Handout composite photo issued by the Royal Mail of its latest set of special stamps marking the 50th anniversary of WWF, the world's leading conservation organisation, on 20 March. The 10 first class stamps featuring endangered species are on sale now Photograph: Royal Mail/PA Wisdom, an albatross, returns to feed her chick in the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands national wildlife refuge complex. Experts estimate the bird is 60 years old Photograph: USFWS Pacific A herd of wild elephants stands near water inside Kaziranga national park, in Kaziranga, India. India's north-east state of Assam is one of the frontlines of a turf war between one-time friends: land-hungry man and a simply hungry Elephas maximus , the Asian elephant Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP Northern rockhopper penguins on Nightingale island on 21 March. The island is part of the Tristan da Cunha British overseas territory in the South Atlantic, where a vessel has grounded causing an oil slick around the island that is home to nearly half the world's population of the penguins Photograph: Trevor Glass/PA A dead oak tree glows under a full moon in a salt pan on the southern end of the Salton Sea near Niland, California. Erosion and high toxicity levels from farm run-off has left the Salton Sea increasingly contaminated , and lake-side towns all but deserted Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA