One candidate savagely whipped a donkey in a promotional video while two others exchanged angry words in a prime time live TV debate as Russia's presidential election campaign kicked off in raucous fashion.

A zoo in the freezing steppes of Kazakhstan is giving its monkeys red wine to ward off winter colds, its chief animal specialist told AFP on Friday.

Hollywood star and weather seer Punxsutawney Phil used to be the only groundhog that mattered in weather predicting, but Phil's shock decision Thursday that spring is still six weeks away put him out on a limb.

Troops of bag-snatching, truck-looting baboons are causing chaos at a border post between Zimbabwe and Zambia in daily raids for food, NewsDay reported on Tuesday.

A New Zealand man who set bird-watchers a-twitter by faking a new species of red hawk was fined Tuesday and ordered to pay costs to the animal welfare group which uncovered his hoax.

A sleepy snake came to a rather untimely end after having its head half chewed off by a fearless toddler in an Arab town in northern Israel, the child's family told AFP on Friday.

Police called out when an alarm went off after hours at a northern German bank found the culprit was -- a small spider.

Dogs, cats, rabbits and even turtles, many dressed in their finest, trooped into churches across Spain on Tuesday in search of blessing on Saint Anthony's Day, for the patron saint of animals.

A growing pack of fans is howling for Uggie the terrier to get a sniff at the Oscars after the Jack Russell stole the show in the silent movie "The Artist" that scooped a slew of Golden Globe awards.

Fans of Knut, the cuddly polar bear that captured hearts worldwide, will soon be able to visit a memorial at Berlin Zoo after the winning design for the shrine was unveiled Friday.