• Cloned black-footed ferret gives birth in ‘major milestone’ for conservationists
• Elephants can wash with a hose – and sabotage shower time, scientists say
• Week in wildlife in pictures: a strolling pelican, a venomous newt and a psychedelic swamphen
• Country Diary: A quiet autumn for acorns so far – but this oak tree is being productive | Mary Montague
• Activists fear Florida enshrining right to fish and hunt will lead to trophy hunting