(Clockwise from top left) 1. Straw hat, £6, matalan.co.uk

It was the size of a bus, and sea-loving Bishan Rajapakse came off worst

It's really little wonder fracking is such a big deal for our political leaders. Because they some years ago bet our energy future on the hissing stuff when deciding on the next generation of electricity power stations.

Necklaces made from whale ivory and fish hooks of ivory, pearl and turtle shell were part of a lavish system of gifts between Fiji’s chiefs and their first British governor in the nineteenth century.

Malcolm Clarke was an international expert on two animals which remain among the most mysterious on the planet: the sperm whale and the giant squid. He spent most of his adult life pursuing these creatures, from the whaling grounds of the Antarctic,to the deep waters off the Azores – the remote archipelago where he lived latterly, within daily sight of his subjects.

Concerns have been raised about the suffering of badgers in the forthcoming pilot culls, after official documents were released detailing how welfare impacts will be assessed.

Why would any self-respecting person want to go on a website and detail their sexual conquests? 

A 36ft long humpback whale found dead in the Thames Estuary this morning is being examined after being brought to shore.

The Lonely Planet Adventure: There's no need for a cage when you share the water with these giant creatures

Outlook The London Whale turned out to be more like the London goldfish. JP Morgan's results for the final three months of 2012 today confirmed that Jamie Dimon's Wall Street juggernaut emerged from its annus horribilis in surprisingly decent shape. Revenues were up 10 per cent on the same period of the previous year. Profits were 53 per cent higher. For the full year, profits came in at $21bn (£13bn), 12 per cent higher than 2011. The $6bn trading loss resulting from the activities of the derivatives trader Bruno Iksil, uncovered in May, turned out to be no more than a small blip for this profit-making machine.

More time and money will be needed to remove the Costa Concordia from the rocks off Tuscany where it capsized last year, in part to ensure the toxic materials still trapped inside don't leak into the surrounding marine sanctuary when it is righted, officials said yesterday.

Chocó department, on Colombia’s Pacific coast, is one of the wettest places on Earth. It rains all the time. The small group that I was with was visiting a community tourism project, Mano Cambiada, based in the town of Nuquí. The warning that, on the boat journey to Mano Cambiada’s lodge, we might get wet was an understatement. A little short of two hours in, in our small boat on the open sea, we were drenched to the skin.

Baby beluga in the deep blue sea – runs a much-loved children's song – you swim so wild and you swim so free. And now, it seems, you may be chatting to us as well.

Acoustic analysis of the sounds made by a beluga whale revealed remarkable similarities to human speech patterns, indicating that the whale was trying to “reach out” to his human captors