TWO men who swam in the sea with a friendly dolphin have denied witness reports that one of them tried to grab its dorsal fin and ride on its back. Michael Jukes, 27, and Daniel Buck, 26, said they swam with Dave the dolphin off the coast of Sandgate,

By recent mortality standards, the 36th running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was not a banner year. Three dogs died in Alaska during the taxing 1,100-mile journey from Anchorage to Nome that was won by Lance Mackey on March 12. One was a 3-year-old

The vaquita, a tiny stubby-nosed porpoise found only in Mexico's Sea of Cortez, is on the brink of extinction as more die each year in fishing nets than are being born, biologists say. A drop in vaquita numbers to as few as 150 from around 600 at the

A woman sunbathing on the deck of a boat was killed after a stingray leapt out of the water and impaled her through the neck with a poisonous barb. It was not immediately clear if she was killed by the barb of the 6ft spotted eagle ray or whether she

She may be just 2ft high, but Panda the miniature pony is fulfilling a tall order - as a "guide horse" for the blind. The two-year-old was taught by her trainers to help blind people in the same way as conventional guide dogs. She stops at kerbs, spots

The director of the world famous Berlin Zoo has been accused of overbreeding animals - and selling the "spares" to be slaughtered and used in Chinese sex potions. Bernhard Blaszkiewitz is under pressure to quit following the criminal complaint by a

A senior wildlife park official in Democratic Republic of Congo has been arrested amid claims that he organised the killing of rare mountain gorillas. The Congolese Nature Conservation Institute (ICCN) is reported to have brought the charges against

They lay in their thousands, covering the beach in a carpet of pink and orange. Some were curled up, their spiny feet pointing towards the sky. Others lay flat where they had been washed up by the tide. All were dead. If the collective noun for a normal

The acclaimed broadcaster is launching a £25m conservation project aimed at reversing the "silent natural disaster" threatening butterflies in the UK. Sir David hopes the project will re-energise interest in the winged wonders among the youngest

The eminent conservationist Richard Leakey has given qualified backing for South Africa's plan to cull elephants. In an article for the BBC News website, the former head of the Kenyan Wildlife Service says culling is "a necessary part of population