The UK's Bristol Zoo announced some very good news: Six new Roti Island Snake Neck Turtles hatched and are all doing very well. They are just about a month old. It can take up to ten years for them to reach full adulthood.
The Roti Island Snake Neck Turtle has an extremely limited distribution and has been subjected to intense collection pressure for the international pet trade market, which has driven it into virtual commercial extinction. Recent field surveys have documented extremely depleted remaining populations still being impacted by persistent collection efforts, with remaining habitat areas also being reduced by agricultural development and conversion of swamps and marshland to rice fields.
The turtles will eventually be put out on display, although they’re still very young and fragile so are currently kept safely behind the scenes.
On November 9, 2011, two healthy male Asiatic Lion cubs named Kamran and Ketan were born to mom Shiva at Bristol Zoo Gardens. Now at nine and a half weeks, both cubs are doing well and beginning to reveal their individual personalities. They’re spending more time outside in an off-show enclosure, though guests can now view them at play on a monitor outside the exhibit.
But they have a story. Unfortunately, only 12 days after they were born, their
eight-year-old father Kamal was put to sleep due to severely deteriorating
health. Following his death, Shiva began to have difficulties mothering, which forced staff to make the rare
decision to intervene and remove the two-week-old cubs for hand-rearing.
Asiatic Lions are classified as Critically Endangered and are part of an internationally coordinated conservation breeding program managed by Twycross Zoo. There are currently only a few hundred Asiatic Lions left in the wild, so every step had to be taken to ensure these cubs survive and thrive. Hand-rearing is a very demanding and challenging process, and
is considered a last resort. But just as their father played a role in the conservation breeding program, both cubs are to play a role in the future of the breeding program.
"The initial transition was a very important time for
the cubs,’ says Lynsey Bugg, Assistant Curator of Mammals. "We placed
straw from their previous enclosure on the ground for familiarity, and gave
each cub a cuddly toy to snuggle with to mimic mum. We also worked closely with
the Vet Team to monitor their fluid intake while we got both cubs used to
feeding from artificial teats."
A team of five keepers are dedicated to care for the
cubs, who were initially fed five times over a 24 hour period. While the cubs got used to the new feeding regimine, keepers could spend up
to two hours doing each feed. Both cubs have their weight, temperature and
respiratory rate checked daily, and keepers monitor their activity level to ensure
they’re progressing well.
"Alongside the challenge of feeding when hand-rearing, we need to
prevent the cubs from imprinting on the keepers, so we make sure we treat them
the way that their mum would when we handle them," continues Lynsey. This involves picking
them up by the scruff of the neck and brushing them with a coarse brush -- which
replicates them being licked by their mother’s coarse tongue -- all to ensure
they go on to be a fully functioning social animal.
"I’m very proud of my team," says Lynsey. "However, I’ll deem the hand-rearing a success when our two young males are fully weaned and then go on to breed themselves. After all, protecting this incredible species is what we’re all working toward."
Photo Credit: Bristol Zoo
Watch this video of the two nursing and being quite curious about the camera!
A baby Pudu, the world's smallest species of deer, recently made his debut at the UK's Bristol Zoo Gardens.
This male Pudu was born May 6 and has recently ventured out into his paddock for the first time.
The fawn weighed only about two pounds (1kg) at birth. At one month, he weighed only four pounds (1.8kg) -- about half the weight of a newborn human baby! The tiny youngster is part of an international conservation breeding program. As with all Pudu fawns, he has distinctive white spotted markings on his back which help to camouflage him from predators.
Assistant curator for mammals Lynsey Bugg said, “Behaviour at the moment is still what you would expect from a young fawn. He enjoys hiding in shrubs and undergrowth where he feels most secure. Mum is very good at moving him around as she sees fit but he will always choose a quiet and secluded spot to settle."
Pudus are classified as a vulnerable species. They live in lowland temperate rainforests in Chile and south-west Argentina but their numbers have declined due to their rainforest habitat being destroyed and cleared for cattle ranching and other human developments, as well as natural predators such as pumas and foxes.
Pudus are the world’s smallest species of deer, standing about 14" (38cm) at the shoulder when fully grown and weighing around 20-33 pounds (9-15kg). A male’s antlers only grow to four inches (10cm) long.
The U.K.'s Bristol Zoo is celebrating the hatching of over 140 Antilles Pink-toed Bird-eating Tarantulas. At four weeks old, the spiderlings are now little more than the size of a 5p coin with a striking metallic steel blue-black colouring. Zoo guests can see the new arrivals in the window of the tropical breeding room in the Zoo’s Bug World.
Mark Bushell, assistant curator of invertebrates at Bristol Zoo, said: “This species is one of the most beautiful types of tarantula around. When the spiderlings first hatch, they are tiny and translucent but they gradually develop, moult and turn into little blue fluffy tarantulas and are very eye-catching”.
Photo credits: Bristol Zoo
He added: “Breeding these spiders is a real achievement. It has been a fantastic experience for our team of invertebrate keepers and means now have the tools to successfully breed more species of arachnid in future, including some of the more endangered species.”
A young Sloth born at Bristol Zoo Gardens has finally gone on show after 10 months intensive hand-rearing by keepers. Sid the sloth was born in the Zoo’s nocturnal house, Twilight World, last April, weighing just 500g (1.1lbs). Her mother, Light Cap, was taken ill shortly after giving birth and underwent a spell in the Zoo’s veterinary hospital which prevented her from caring for her baby. Despite making a full recovery, Light Cap was no longer producing enough milk to feed her baby and the youngster, who was named Sid after the sloth in the popular Ice Age movie, had to be cared for round the clock by a team of dedicated keepers.
In the first few months of her life, Sid needed feeding every three hours, including through the night. She was fed a combination of puppy milk formula and goat’s milk. She also had checks by the zoo vet on an almost daily basis to make sure she was developing well. The hard work has paid off and now, after almost a year, Sid has re-joined her mother on show in the Zoo’s nocturnal house, Twilight World. She has developed into a strong, healthy and inquisitive youngster, with a particular penchant for green beans.
Babies have been born to two new Stingrays which arrived at Bristol Zoo last summer. Nine Ocellated Freshwater Stingray pups were born last week after two new females were introduced to the Zoo’s male stingray last year. The new females, sisters named Catalina & Genevieve, arrived at Bristol Zoo from Weston Seaquarium and have wasted little time in breeding. Catalina has produced six pups and three pups are from Genevieve.
The babies, six females and three males, are around just 12cm (4.7 inches) long and will eventually grow to the size of a car tyre. They have now been moved into a separate, off-show tank to keep them safe from larger predators in the display tank. In the coming months they will be re-homed, once they are bigger and stronger.
Photo credit: Lucy King
Jonny Rudd, assistant curator of the aquarium at Bristol Zoo, said: “I’m really pleased that the new pairings of our stingrays has led to the birth of these pups. Our male, called Gamma, is still relatively young and smaller than the females but that obviously hasn’t had any adverse effects.”
A critically endangered species of Iguana has bred at Bristol Zoo Gardens for the very first time. Reptile keepers at Bristol Zoo successfully hatched 17 baby Utila spiny-tailed Iguanas – a species that is listed as critically endangered and once considered to be one of the rarest Iguanas in existence.
The eggs were laid after two young adult Iguanas arrived at the zoo last year as a new breeding pair, to boost numbers of this species in captivity. They were transferred to a temperature-controlled incubator for three months until hatching and then moved into a vivarium on display in the Zoo’s Reptile House.
Tim Skelton, Curator of reptiles and amphibians at Bristol Zoo, said: “I’m thrilled that we have successfully hatched so many Iguanas from the first clutch of eggs laid by our new female. This is an interesting and very valuable species because they are only found on one island, Utila, off the coast of Honduras in Central America.”
He added: “The babies are currently only around 15cm long but will eventually grow to approximately 60cm on a diet of vegetation and small insects.”
Back in June, we brought you the story of Sid the Sloth, who had to be hand-raised round the clock after her mother took ill shortly after birth. Well, the hard work has paid off as Bristol Zoo’s baby Two-Toed Sloth is now nearly four months old and has developed into a strong, healthy and inquisitive youngster, with a particular penchant for green beans. Senior keeper, Karla Tucker, is one of the team of keepers who has raised her. She said: “We are really pleased with Sid’s progress. She is very bright, alert and active, and is now four times the weight she was at birth. “We now feed her seven times a day, between 6am and 8pm, with milk formula and vegetables such as cooked sweet potato and green beans, which she loves. She still goes home with a keeper every night so that we can keep a close eye on her and give her evening feeds.” She added: “It will be a while yet before she goes on show with her parents in Twilight World, as she is still very dependent on us to look after her. She is a fantastic animal and she loves people. It is lovely to have this rare opportunity to hand-rear a baby sloth, although we only hand-rear animals as a last resort.”
Sidone (Sid for short) is a five week old baby sloth, being cared for round the clock by a team of dedicated keepers at Bristol Zoo. She was born in Twilight World to mother, Light Cap, and weighed around 500g (1.1lbs) at birth. But Light Cap was taken ill shortly after giving birth and had to receive veterinary treatment. After a stay in the Zoo’s on-site veterinary centre, Light Cap made a full recovery and was returned to Twilight World. However, she was no longer producing enough milk to feed her baby and keepers had no choice but to intervene to hand-rear Sid in order to save her. The youngster, who has been named after Sid the sloth in the popular Ice Age movie, is believed to be a girl, but sloths are very difficult to sex. She is being looked after by zoo keepers in a special room behind-the-scenes of Twilight World.
Now five weeks old, she weighs 537g (1.2lbs) and is growing well. But she has needed a lot of care from her keepers, including almost daily checks by the zoo vet, as explained by Bristol Zoo’s Overseer of Mammals, Rob Rouse. He said: “Four keepers have been intensively caring for Sid since she was three days old and we’re thrilled that she is doing so well. She is strong, healthy and very inquisitive, and she loves people.”
Last week, photographer Mark Eastment got some great pictures of the Bristol Zoo's Asiatic Lion cubs in their outdoor enclosure. The cubs, born Christmas Eve, are now just over 3 months old and as playful as ever. Asiatic Lions are critically endangered in the wild – with only about 300 remaining in the Gir Forest Sanctuary in Northern India. They were once widespread throughout Northern India and Pakistan, but hunting and habitat destruction has reduced their numbers drastically.
"ZooBorns pulls off the difficult task of being cute and interesting for people of all ages while also being informative. Many books seek this lofty goal but most fail." - Seattle Post Intelligencer
