Just a decade ago, Washington's Western Pond Turtle population had shrunk to only about 150 individuals. Habitat destruction, pollution and disease all took their toll on the turtles but the invasive bullfrog proved to be their greatest enemy. Bullfrogs eat tiny turtle hatchlings and the dramatic increase in predation pushed the Western Pond Turtle to the brink. Luckily, the Oregon Zoo in partnership with other organizations created a head-start program, under which baby turtles are collected in the wild and raised in captivity until they are old enough to be released and fend for themselves. By raising them in warm light for eleven months, the turtle hatchlings skip hibernation and in that short time they actually grow the equivalent of three years in the wild!
Photo credit: Michael Durham, courtesy of the Oregon Zoo
Photo credit Brock Parker, courtesy of the Oregon Zoo
A Western Pond Turtle raised at the Oregon Zoo is released into the beautiful Washington wilderness. I'd like to be released there...
The Minnesota Zoo welcomed a healthy Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin calf on Saturday night to mom Allie. Weighing about 30lbs. and measuring around 2.5 feet long, the sex has yet to be determined. Happily swimming alongside mom, the baby dolphin is exhibiting all the right signs, although the first few weeks are always precarious for new dolphins. The calf's father, Semo, is 45 years old!
German photographer Tierkinder snapped some nice shots of Zoo Krefeld's 10-day-old Rhino baby. The calf is the third Rhino born at the zoo in four years, and the birth of a female (after two males in a row) represents great hope for the zoos breeding program. In the wild, adult Black Rhinos meet only during breeding season. Due to the potentially aggressive behavior of male rhinos, father Usoni and the other males are being kept apart from the bouncing bundle of joy for now.
The Chester Zoo in the U.K. has 3 little Visayan Warty Piglets to be proud of. Critically endangered in the wild, Visayan Warty Pigs are endemic to two islands in the central Philippines. Named for what scientists believe to be protective tissue covering three areas on its face, the species is maintained by only 6 zoos in Europe.
It’s been a busy week for Belfast Zoo with the birth of two tiny baby monkeys. The new Lion-tailed Macaque and Black and White Colobus Monkey are being looked after well by their mums and the other females in their groups. Sometimes the mothers will even pass the babies off to responsible aunts and older sisters while they go take a break.
On an unrelated-to-anything-scientific note, baby Colobus Monkeys look to us like a cross between a sheep, a bichon and a tiny old man...
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay guests got their first look at two new baby reticulated giraffes this week as the babies were introduced to the rest of the herd on the Serengeti Plain for the first time. The first was born on April 6 and was the fourth calf for mother Tesa. The second was born April 24, and is the first calf for mother Chloe. Both are males sired by father Sterling.
Meet the Cincinnati Zoo's newest little Parma Wallaby joey. This species of wallaby is the smallest in the genus Macropus, which includes all kangaroos, wallaroos and some wallabies. Extremely shy in the wild, Parma Wallabies were thought to be extinct until the mid 1960s, when a small hidden population was discovered in the swampy forests of Kawau Island off the coast of New Zealand.
Living in the nursery for now, this baby wallaby will eventually become an outreach animal at the zoo.
Last week, we brought you the Wildlife Heritage Foundation's cuddly baby Pallas Cats. These tiny babies are growing up fast, so catch them while they're in their full kittenly glory. The Pallas Cats, seen here at 5 and 6 weeks old, are doing well and keepers at WHF predict more hijinx in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
All eyes were focused on a tiny, fuzzy, baby Penguin at the Tennessee Aquarium on July 1st. The new Gentoo chick came into the world after a day-long hatching process called pipping. “We started to see the beak poking through a small hole in the shell late Tuesday,” said aviculturist Loribeth Aldrich. “Early last evening the chick was completely out and vocalizing.”
On June 14th, the Knoxville Zoo welcomed two fuzzy Red Panda cubs to mother Akkali and father Chewbacca. After three weeks the cubs are happy and healthy, although the first couple months for baby red pandas are always precarious. The Knoxville Zoo is a leader in Red Panda breeding and conservation, with 93 births since their first pair, Bernice and Buster, arrived in 1977. The zoo hopes to debut the cubs to the public in the next couple of weeks.
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