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Behind the scenes at Perth Zoo is a room full of small glass aquariums. And within each enclosure is one of Australia's rarest marsupials. The dibbler.

This week it's all about climate - from the parched Queensland channel country, to rural communities building their own renewable energy projects.

The enormous predator is one of the oldest and largest creatures on planet Earth. Writer Thomas Batten imagines a shark’s tale

Researchers in Arctic waters have used new techniques to set the age of a female Greenland shark at a staggering 392 years. The enormous predator – one of the world’s largest at about five meters in length – actually isn’t the oldest creature in the sea, as that honor belongs to a 507-year-old Icelandic clam, but the shark has definitely lived an extraordinary life.

Related: 400-year-old Greenland shark is oldest vertebrate animal

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It is very commendable that George Monbiot has converted to veganism (Opinion, 10 August), but perhaps he is deluding himself into thinking that this will alter our output of CO2 into the atmosphere. We can practise all the accepted methods of reducing carbon emissions, but nothing is more effective than choosing to have no more than two children. As we hurtle towards the point of no return with regards to global warming, choosing not to eat meat is quite low down the scale of things we need to do.

Which are: 1 Stabilise world population. 2 Eradicate poverty. 3 Stop using fossil fuels and change to renewables. 4 Use our land to produce crops more effectively. 5 Reduce excessive meat consumption.

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Eamon Kelly, 52, from Didcot, disqualified for cheating in Tarbes Grand National race after sending decoy birds

A pigeon-racing champion has received a lifetime ban from the sport after allegations that he cheated to win one of the most prestigious competitions in the sport’s calendar.

Eamon Kelly, 52, from Didcot, was accused of cheating by registering 14 birds for the Tarbes Grand National race but keeping them at home and sending decoys instead.

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The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

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Two-inch long fish have appeared in a garden in Banff.

An animal charity appeals against a court decision which ruled a monkey could not own the copyright to a selfie photograph it took.

Scientists say the Greenland shark has the longest lifespan of any vertebrate on the planet. Julius Nielsen, who has been studying the sharks, says record goes to a female thought to be between 272 and 512 years old and is five metres in length

• 400-year-old Greenland shark is oldest vertebrate animal
  

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Elephant herds face an uncertain future – over the next year we’ll be taking a closer look at what can be done to help

Welcome to the elephant conservation hub. Over the next year, with the support of Vulcan, Guardian journalists will be taking a closer look at the situation of elephant herds around the world.

Elephant conservation has been a particular focus for Vulcan, a private company set up by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to look for solutions to problems like endangered species, climate change and ocean health. The future of this particular species is precariously balanced. Although in some areas (a very few) elephant herds are expanding and thriving, the overall picture is one of decline, with falls of as much as 60% in elephant population in countries such as Tanzania.

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A basking shark, panda cub and Finland’s bears and wolves are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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Supporters are trying to improve sport’s reputation through a campaign group with no members that is funded anonymously

With the Glorious Twelfth, the 2016 grouse season is under way – and the first birds will be served up in many a country house on Friday night. But after raising a glass to the late Duke of Westminster, who owned a vast acreage of grouse moorland, the shooters may also toast a colourful and remarkably influential group of people trying to improve the tarnished reputation of their sport.

They include the retired cricketer Sir Ian Botham, a billionaire hedge fund owner who houses his chickens in a coop that supposedly cost £150,000, and a lobbyist who boasts of his role advising a Russian oligarch.

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Scientists find some rockhopper and Snares crested penguins travel 15,000km in six months.

Club succeeds with an appeal to stop planning permission for the west London project that would power 600 homes

A proposed small hydropower project in west London has received a further setback, as court judges allowed an appeal by a club owned by Shell against the granting of planning permission to the site.

The project, at Teddington lock and weirs, would deliver enough electricity to power about 600 homes. It is proposed by a local cooperative group, run by volunteers, who have raised a potential £700,000 to build the plant, which the proponents say would not have any damaging effect on fish in the Thames or other local wildlife.

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About 200 baby Montserrat tarantulas have hatched at Chester Zoo - the first time the rare Caribbean spider has been bred in captivity.

Keepers at Chester Zoo have become the first in the world to successfully breed Montserrat tarantulas in captivity.

Wildlife presenter Chris Packham is called an extremist by former England cricketer Sir Ian Botham as they clash over a grouse-shooting ban on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Botham accuses Packham of using his position at the BBC to promote his views

• Chris Packham using BBC role to push grouse-shooting ban, Ian Botham says

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Time-lapse footage has captured the Perseid meteor shower over Spain.

Wildlife presenter accused of extremism in clash with former England cricketer as grouse-shooting season begins

The former England cricketer Sir Ian Botham has accused wildlife presenter Chris Packham of being an extremist and using his position at the BBC to promote his views on restricting grouse shooting.

The pair clashed in a joint interview on Radio 4’s Today programme on the opening day of the grouse-shooting season, – or the “inglorious twelfth” as Packham called it.

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About 600 Tasmanian devils untouched by facial tumour disease will stay in sanctuaries as insurance against animals in the wild becoming extinct

A controversial proposal to halve the insurance population of disease-free Tasmanian devils has been scrapped.

But the state government said it would continue to support the staged release of some of the animals as part of a vaccine-testing program.

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