Meet Swiss, a tiny Ringtail Possum orphan being looked after by her new surrogate mum and elephant Keeper Bobby-Jo at Australia's Taronga Zoo. Swiss and her sister Miss both came in to care after a good Samaritan found them. Vets at Taronga’s Wildlife Hospital think Swiss fractured her wrist when her mother died, but with a tiny splint on her wrist, the two are doing well in Bobby-Jo’s care. Follow Swiss and other Taronga Zoo critters on their Facebook page.
In the wild, Ringtail Possums live in communal nests where they sleep by day and socialize by night.
There's the pitter patter of a lot of new paws at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, Australia. On July 24, keepers arrived at work to see that three Meerkat babies had come into the world. The pups have been in the den with their mother, Umi, and dad, Mapoto, tending to them, along with the subordinate maleBrock.
An experienced mother, Umi is doing a great job raising her offspring. The kits are now venturing out into the sun, exploring the habitat with mom and the other helpers in the mob, who are all working well together to ensure the pups are being properly cared for.
The pups will grow up fast reaching full size by about four months of age, so visitors should come out over the next couple of months to see these special new arrivals.
Taronga Zoo's Nocturnal House is home to a Potoroo joey! The joey was first seen sticking its nose out of the pouch by keepers and in mid-July the joey ventured out of mum’s pouch. Keepers estimate the youngster is between 4-5 months old and are yet to find out whether it’s a male or female. Potoroos are in the Macropod family which include kangaroos and wallabies. Potoroos are endangered due to habitat loss and predation by introduced species.
At Sydney's Taronga Zoo, Tasmanian Devil Keepers at got their first hands-on check of four little devil joeys, the first born at the Zoo this breeding season. The youngsters were snuggled tightly in their nest with their mother, Nina. Keepers gently lifted them out to check their body condition and determine their sex. Closer inspection revealed that Nina had given birth to one female and three male joeys.
Photo Credit: Taronga Zoo
Australian Fauna Supervisor, Nick de Vos, said: “Over the last few months we’ve been observing Nina and the joeys from a distance. We knew she had four little ones but we were absolutely stoked to discover she had a girl amongst the litter. Females are vital for the ongoing national breeding program."
The keepers at Australias' Taronga Conservation Society have proudly announced a very special new arrival, a Glossy Black Cockatoo chick. The chick hatched on the 25th of May, and initially only resembled a small ball of yellow fluff with one very large beak making it very cute looking indeed.
First time mother Gloucester was hatched at Taronga in 2004 with the help of bird keepers as her mother had never raised a chick properly before. Poor Gloucester also fell ill 12 months ago, so has really come around to pair up, lay, incubate her own egg and now also be a great mum!
Photo Credit: Taronga Conservation Society
At seven weeks of age the chick is doing very well and will be expected to fledge from its tree hollow in around three weeks time. This will be when visitors may glimpse Gloucester and her chick exploring their dense Bush bird aviary opposite the Koala Walkabout at the top of the zoo.
It has been seven years since Taronga Zoo was last successful at hatching a Glossy Black Cockatoo -- Being both complex and specialised in their needs, there have been many challenges along the way. But they finally led to this very welcome event.
Taronga Western Plains Zoo has achieved a national breeding success hatching Australasia’s first Galapagos Tortoise in March this year. The hatchling came out of the egg on March 19 and has been carefully looked after by keepers and veterinary staff. It now weighs 94.8 grams and is only 8cm long but it’s doing very well. The hatchling is currently housed in a special area behind the scenes which is temperature controlled allowing keepers to ensure optimum conditions for this new arrival.
Taronga Zoo is celebrating the birth of a male Red Panda cub, the 45th of the vulnerable species to be born at the Zoo since 1977. The male cub, was born to mother, ‘Wanmei’ and father, ‘Mayhem’ in December 2010, and has just started venturing out of the maternal nest box to explore the outside world. The cub has been named ‘Seba’, meaning ‘reward’ in Nepalese. Taronga Zoo Carnivore Keeper, Deborah Price, said: “An animal birth is always a cause for celebration, but we’re particularly proud of our Red Panda Breeding Program. We have the best breeding record in the southern hemisphere, so we’re really happy to welcome another little cub into the world.” Don't miss the outstanding video below.
ZooBorns was seeing double today when two Australian zoos shared pictures of their new langur babies within minutes of one another. Taronga Zoo announced the birth of an endangered, bright orange Francois Leaf Monkey, the first to be raised by its mother in Australia. The male infant was born to mother, ‘Saigon’, and father, ‘Hanoi’, and discovered cradled in its mother’s arms in the early morning of Saturday 30 January by zoo keepers who had been monitoring the pregnancy.
Taronga Zoo Primate Keeper, Roxanne Pellat, said: “Obviously we were all very relieved when we discovered Keo-co cradled in Saigon’s arms. He had been licked clean, was warm, alert and the two adult females began sharing the role of caring for him. This is exactly what we hoped to see as this birth is particularly significant.”
Meanwhile at the Adelaide Zoo, three-time Dusky Leaf Monkey mom, Flier, gave birth to a healthy little girl, who is already proving to be a very mischievous, cheeky monkey... she is in to everything and is always trying to go off exploring, meaning Flier is constantly chasing after her. She will lose that brilliant coloring by the time she's three months and will begin to turn grey to match the rest of her family.
Dusky Leaf Monkeys or Dusky Langurs are native to Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand. In the wild the species is under threat from hunting for food, as is habitat loss and degradation due to expanding oil palm plantations, agriculture, and urbanization. In Peninsular Malaysia the animals are frequent victims of road-kill.
A tiny female Western Lowland Gorilla has been born at Taronga Zoo. Born to experienced mother ‘Kriba’ on Saturday January 15, the youngster has been named ‘Kipenzi’ which means ‘precious one’ in Swahili. At just ten days old, the infant and mother, Kriba, are both well and visitors can expect to see glimpses of the newborn in coming days. The baby is Kriba’s 5th and the 8th born since the group arrived at Taronga from Appenheul in Holland in December 1996. The Zoo’s Director, Cameron Kerr, said: “With Gorillas under immense pressure in Africa, each birth is a small step in the efforts by world zoos to provide some level of insurance for a sustainable future for these remarkable great apes.”
An orphaned baby Wombat is receiving round the clock care at Taronga’s Wildlife Hospital. The little female joey, now named ‘Mirrhi’, was rescued from along the Hume Highway where its mother had sadly been struck and killed by a car. Mirrhi now has a new mother, wildlife nurse Amy, who takes her home every night. Photos by Lorinda Taylor.
"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
