The burning issue

Wildfires are on the rise in the UK, but scientists have been developing innovative ways of preventing them, using the power of nature

FOREST DOCTORS

Chimpanzees in Gabon's Loango National Park have been observed treating each others' wounds using insects - a unique demonstration of potentially advanced cultural activity

SHAKE A LEG

Despite carefully maintaining their eight appendages, harvestmen will part with one to live another day

TRUE COLOURS

Summer may have gone but the trees are about to dazzle with an uplifting display

Falsetto flocks

Tune your ears to the high-pitched calls of returning redwings

Review protections for beavers, say MPs

Influential committee argues that the rules safeguarding the rodents are too stringent

Static electricity gives ticks a boost

New science reveals how these blood-sucking, parasitic arachnids can be propelled through the air

Prickly issue

Europe's urban corvids are using anti-bird spikes from nearby buildings to make their nests

Belinda Nalwamba

Bravery and paramilitary skills are vital as a member of Zambia's first all-female anti-poaching unit

Fungi gets a day in the sun

The tenth UK Fungus Day celebrates our incredibly diverse fungi species

Big whale discovery

Prehistoric skeleton found in Peru rivals the blue whale as the heaviest animal to have ever lived

Sweet nothings

Do honeyguide birds really help honey badgers find bees' nests? Well, probably.....

Highest ever ocean temperatures recorded

Experts express alarm that the average global sea surface temperature hit new highs this summer

Fattening up for Christmas

Squirrels are super-busy getting ready to survive the winter months

Female of the Species - Bonobo

Lucy Cooke on the great apes forming a powerful sisterhood

Holding out for a hero

One brave woman, one soggy badger - and a jet ski

SNAP-CHAT WITH BBC WILDLIFE PICTURE EDITOR TOM GILKS

Ben Hall on destructive deer and getting socked by a gannet

Algae: simple plants or simply plant-like?

WHAT ARE ALGAE? THE TERM IS used for everything from microscopic bacteria and plankton to pond slime and seaweeds, but unlike animals and many other living things, algal groups are an assortment without a single common ancestor. That said, one feature is shared by most algae in every group: photosynthesis – the ability to make food from carbon dioxide and sunlight, releasing oxygen, just like plants.

TOTALLY CHOUGHED

After a 200-year absence, the rare red-billed chough has been returned to its ancient Kent homeland

Норе for the high seas

Global leaders have agreed to a landmark treaty that will safeguard marine life in our shared waters

HIDE AND SEEK

The western lowland gorilla is not as familiar as its mountain cousin, but the forests of Central Africa are gradually revealing the secrets of this elusive ape

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

An initiative in South Africa is using cameras to nurture the conservationists of tomorrow

GIMME SHELTER

In Costa Rica, a pioneering charity is helping vulnerable sloths that have lost their homes due to deforestation

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE

SEA SLATER - Meet the giant woodlouse that can only survive in the damp zone between land and sea

BLOWIN' IN THE WIND

Catch all the action as spectacular cetaceans swim by our shores

MARK CARWARDINE

\"Why would killer whales attack yachts in 21st-century Europe?\"

Aim of the game

Adult craneflies appear in September with the purpose to mate

Speedy fish

After disappearing in the 1960s, turbocharged bluefin tuna are back

Hummingbirds know their drink-fly limits

New research shows that one particular species can function under the influence - up to a point

Lost & Found

COMMON SWIFTS ARE A FAMILIAR FIXTURE of our summer skies, but there are a number of rarer species in this bird family that visit as occasional vagrants from afar.