The Best of Animal Tracks 2009

A baby ring-tailed lemur cuddles with its mother in their enclosure at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo.

A duck swims through the oily waters of the Moskva River in Moscow. The Russian navy has admitted responsibility for a 500-ton oil spill off the south coast of Ireland this month, an Irish transport ministry spokeswoman said.

A pelican is pictured in its enclosure on a sunny day at Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria.

Miss Porky Pig flies through the air during the pig racing and diving event Sept. 18 at the Royal Melbourne Show in Melbourne, Australia. The show has been taking place in Melbourne since 1848 and is Victoria's largest annual public entertainment event, expected to attract around half a million visitors in 2009.

A whitemargin stargazer fish sits buried in sand waiting to ambush prey.

A polar bear shakes its body to remove water at the St. Felicien Wildlife Zoo in St. Felicien, Canada.

Aurora, a 20-year-old beluga whale, swims with her calf after giving birth at the Vancouver Aquarium in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

Zookeepers found Micha, a 15-year-old gibbon, in distress at the zoo of Frejus, southern France, after her twin baby gibbons were stolen July 14.

A horse grazes in a field beside a road in Crawford, Texas. The same Texas town that President George Bush moved to in 1999 during his run for the presidency in 2000.

Polar bear Knut swims in common duckweed at the Zoo Berlin. Fans of Knut anxiously await the first meeting of Knut with 3-year-old female Gianna. Knut and Gianna are expected to first get used to each other and later mate.

Rufous hummingbirds converge on one of the many feeders at a home in Hyak, Wash. This time of year, when the hummers are feeding heavily, the homeowner serves up more than 100 ounces of nectar a day.

A giant panda sleeps in a tree at the Beijing Zoo.

A Highland cattle stands in the snow on a pasture near Sonnenbuehl, southern Germany.

Three Crab-eating macaques huddle together for warmth in sub-zero temperatures at their enclosure at Zoo Basel in Basel, Switzerland.

An ostrich eats a roll at the Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, Germany.

Ducklings huddle together at an incubating farm outside Hanoi, Vietnam. The nation's health officials have banned transportation of the birds by motorcycle in order to keep citizens safe from a potential bird flu outbreak.

A newborn Madagascar lemur named Tahina hugs her toy at Besancon Zoo in France.

A frog sits on a banana leaf at a garden in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

A cockchafer sits on an apple tree in Berlin. Cockchafers appear from end of April on when they fly around seaching for delicate leaves of deciduous trees.

An albino baby turtle swims with green baby sea turtles in a pond at Khram Island in Thailand.

A firefighter comforts Pencil, a horse that fell through the ice on a pond on Doug Oldiges' farm in Melbourne, Ky. Firefighters and members of the Northern Kentucky Large Animal Rescue Team rescued Pencil with plywood and slings to pull him out of the ice.

During the NATO summit, birds fly past rungs of a pedestrian bridge which connects Kehl, Germany, to Strasbourg, France.

A dog barks though a hole in the wall of a Bogota, Colombia, hardware store decorated with a bat painting.

Blood Red Parrot fish swim at the 2009 Taiwan International Aquarium Expo in Taipei.

A king cobra couple "kiss" at the Van Vihar National Park near Bhopal, India.

An Asiatic lion dozes in the sun at the Zurich Zoo in Switzerland.

A pigeon flies over New York City.

Max, a Chesapeake Bay retriever, leaps in the air, biting at flying snow thrown from a snow blower operated by his owner in Jamestown, N.D.

A baby chimpanzee plays in its enclosure at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

A baby giraffe stands next to its mother in the zoo in Hanover, Germany.

Gentoo penguins swim in their enclosure at the Melbourne Aquarium.

Birds roost high in a tree at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Merritt Island, Fla.

Sled dogs play before a competition outside Moscow.

Storks huddle in their nest in Holzen, southern Germany.

Illuminated sardines swim in a tank during a Christmas show event at the Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in Yokohama, Japan.

An archerfish latches onto the finger of a young tourist who lured it out of the water with bread on his fingertip during a visit to a fish farm at the Kilim Karts Geoforest Park on Langkawi Island in Malaysia.

A dolphin is airborne as it follows in the wake of a fishing boat off the coast of Paihia in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand.

A duck passes under a bridge in the Royal Baths Park in Warsaw, Poland.

Odin, a white Bengal tiger, dives for a piece of meat at the opening of the new tiger exhibit at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif.

A flamingo rests during a rain shower in its enclosure at the zoo in the northern German city of Osnabrueck.

A blue morpho butterfly flies above the tearoom floor of Galleria Borghese's aviary in Rome. The gardens are hosting a springtime educational event entitled Tea with the Butterflies, which allows visitors to sip tea in an atrium filled with the colorful insects.

A sea squirt colony huddles together near the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific Ocean.

Camels drink water from a well in the village of Yaa-Sharbana in Egypt.

A Canadian sphynx sits during an event at the Pets Fashion Week Russia in Moscow.

A pair of chameleons fight inside a park in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.

A peacock butterfly sits on a butterfly bush (also called a buddleia) in a garden in Hohen Neuendorf, Germany. This butterfly is known for its striking colors and is found in temperate Europe and Asia.

Swarms of swallows perch on power lines in front of a residential apartment building in southwest China's Sichuan province.

A squirrel spreads out in the shade at Oakdale Park in Salina, Kan on July 10. The temperature in Salina was in the mid 90s by the early afternoon.

A transparent sea cucumber swims at a depth of 9,200 feet in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The permanent darkness of the ocean depths is home to a far greater range of animals than previously thought, scientists recently announced.

A curious golden retriever wades into a tide pool at Pond Cove in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

Two horses fight on the grassland near Chifeng, a city in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Snow covers a dog's snout after it went romping outdoors in West Bath, Maine.

A 2-day-old baby Siamang yawns at its mother's lap at the Central Zoo in Kathmandu.

Baby fennec foxes cuddle close at the Sunshine International Aquarium in Tokyo. The small nocturnal foxes babies were born on May 17.

A flock of starlings fly over Rahovec, Kosovo.

A goliath grouper, a protected and endangered species, swims near Jupiter, Fla.

A Sunbird looks for nectar among hanging plants in a balcony in Singapore.

An egret flies over Dojran Lake in Macedonia. The lake survived an ecological disaster after a drought and excessive use of its water in the 1990s, which caused its water level to fall nearly 33 feet, and brought into question the survival of its flora and fauna, according to local media.

Bull Elk stand together on the road between Banff and Lake Louise near Banff National Park.

A Philippine eagle owl rests at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City, the Philippines. The center, which serves as a repository and rehabilitation facility for wildlife with the objective to release animals back into their habitat, also serves as a venue for public education and as a training and research facility for future veterinarians and biologists.

A Canada goose gosling is seen along the banks of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

Nadua, a golden-bellied capuchin monkey born on June 16, scratches his head at the zoo in Cologne, western Germany.