Louisville Zoo’s 20-year-old Western Lowland Gorilla Mia Moja gave birth to her second baby on Saturday, February 6. It is the first gorilla baby born in North America this year and the second gorilla ever born in the Zoo’s 41-year history. The first was male Azizi born to Makari on December 4, 2003, a year after Gorilla Forest opened in May of 2002.
Photos Courtesy Louisville Zoo
The Liberec Zoo in the Czech Republic celebrated the birth of three Golden Takins in January. The playful calves, all boys, represent hopeful progress for this vulernerable subspecies of takin, native to the Himalayas. Although they look similar to muskox, takin are actually a type of goat-antelope more closely related to sheep.
Photo credits: Radek Petrasek / Associated Press
Yesterday, we brought word of a brand new Tamandua (Lesser Anteater) at Busch Gardens' Discovery Cove, Orlando, Florida. There's another baby anteater (Giant Anteater) on the Busch Gardens block, this one at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. Weighing about 3 pounds at birth, the little boy will ride on his mother's back for about four months until he is ready to walk, explore and find food on his own. Giant anteaters detect insects with their powerful sense of smell, which is 40 times stronger than a human's and allows them to find and eat up to 30,000 insects a day.
Photo by Matt Marriott/Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
It’s a boy! This little guy – a lesser anteater or tamandua – was born just days ago to mom, Cypress, at Discovery Cove, in Orlando, Florida. The youngster will hitch a ride on mom’s back for the first part of his life until he’s able to walk and find food on his own. Tamanduas are native to the forests of Mexico to South America. They use their sharp claws and 16-inch-long tongue (41 cm) to eat up to 9,000 ants in a single day.
Photo credits: David Collier / Discovery Cove
Discovery Cove is an all-inclusive experience in Orlando where guests can swim with dolphins, snorkel among tropical fish and interact with animals.
Belgium's Antwerp Zoo recently welcomed Golden Headed Lion Tamarin twins. These little Brazilian monkeys are endangered in the wild and, while the population decline seems to have been stabilized thanks to conservation efforts in Brazil's União Biological Reserve, continued habitat destruction outside of the park makes the prospects of reintroduction beyond União bleak.
Baby marmoset or gremlin? You decide...
A new baby Masai giraffe was born on Monday, January 11, 2010, to 22-year-old mother Mariah. This calf is the 20th giraffe to be born in the Louisville Zoo’s 40 year history. A naming contest is planned and details will be announced at a later date.
A baby gibbon sits on a swing in its enclosure in Vienna's Schoenbrunn zoo, in this photograph released by the zoo on February 3, 2010. The gibbon, born on September 23, 2009, has yet to be sexed and named. Any suggestions? Picture taken January 4, 2010.
REUTERS/Vienna Zoo/Norbert Potensky/Handout
Tomorrow will be a bittersweet day at the National Zoo and Zoo Atlanta, as fans must say goodbye to Giant Pandas Tai Shan and Mei Lan respectively. Four year old Giant Pandas Tai Shan and Mei Lan have captivated crowds since their successful births, the first for both institutions.
The pandas will be returned to China in accordance with the Zoos' original agreements. In fact, Tai Shan was supposed to return home two years ago but the Chinese government extended his stay for another two years.
(Below) Tai Shan back in 2005 at 11-weeks-old. This was during the cub's 7th check up, all of which he "handled very well," according to zoo veteranarians.
Photo: Smithsonian Zoo
Photo: Smithsonian Zoo
(Below) Snow falls on Tai Shan during his farewell celebration. The snow and frigid temperatures failed to deter Tan Shan's diehard fans from coming to say goodbye.
Photo: Jon McRay/FONZ Photo Club
(Below) Mei Lan snuggles up with mom during her first weeks at Zoo Atlanta in 2006.
Photo: Zoo Atlanta
(Below) Mei Lan strikes a postcard worthy panda-pose.
Photo: Atlanta Zoo
(Below) The Washington Post shares video of Tai-Shan's last days in DC.
Tai-Shan received farewell letters from DC area students including this one from Florence Kane, age 8.
