We want your vote (via comment, facebook, email, or twitter) for best hair do. America's newest Golden Lion Tamarins are facing off in a ZooBorns showdown for coolest coiffe. ('Elvis', on the left, is from Zoo Atlanta and 'Orolito', right, is from Cleveland Metroparks Zoo). Send the name of your pick via any of the channels above and we'll tally the results. Click the images below to enlarge.

Extra points may be awarded for clinging technique...

'Orolito' courtesy of Cleveland Metroparks Zoo/ 'Elvis' courtesy of smileybears

Wild Humboldt penguins are vulnerable to extinction in the wild and institutions like the Santa Barbara Zoo are working diligently to ensure that captive populations represent the most genetic diversity possible. The parents of these little chicks were carefully selected for this purpose but they also must have been an exceptionally good looking penguin couple, since these are some of the best penguin chick pictures yet!

The first pictures feature Desi, born March 16th, as a young chick and a fluffy, waddling juvenile:

See pictures of Desi's younger sibling below the fold!

Born on April 19, 2010 and now nearly a month old, a new baby L’Hoest’s monkey has gone on exhibit at the Edinburgh Zoo. This birth was part of the European Endangered Programme (EEP), designed to build up a potential rescue population of L’Hoest’s monkeys due to their vulnerable conservation status. This baby brings the count to 32 individuals held at just seven zoo sites across Europe with five monkeys at the Edinburgh Zoo. In the wild, populations are expected to decline by 30% in the next three decades and conservation authorities believe this species faces a high risk of extinction.

Photo Credits: Edinburgh Zoo

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay welcomed two endangered baby red-ruffed lemurs on April 21. The babies are the first lemurs to be born at Jambo Junction, home to the parks’ animal ambassadors, since parents Maditra and Bozeny arrived as babies three years ago.

Photo Credits: Courtesy of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

The sex of the babies has yet to be determined, but they are developing well overall, according to trainers. They are getting braver each day, and exploring their habitat under the watchful eye of Mom and Dad. They currently weigh about 300 grams or a little more than half a pound; lemurs average about 80 grams, or .17 of a pound, at birth. They grow to be about 8 to 10 pounds.

The oldest – and possibly ‘fiercest’ – sun bear at the Singapore Zoo is now the proud grandmother of a yet to be named male baby bear. This 33-year-old matriarch named Garang, which means ‘fierce’ in Malay, and her daughter Judy welcomed the new family member in February.

Photo credits: Wildlife Reserves Singapore

A species ‘vulnerable’ to extinction, Singapore Zoo, is doing its part to ensure the sun bear’s survival through its successful captive breeding programme, which has produced three sun bears since Garang’s arrival as a one-year-old cub in 1978. Mother and daughter duo Judy and Matahari were both born in Singapore Zoo, as was the latest three-month-old addition.

At Phoenix Zoo last week, visitor dmguz caught this peek at a baby Prairie Dog nibbling away on some greens. We just learned of a phenomenon called 'prairie dogging', in which folks in large companies respond simultaneously to a noise or distraction by popping their heads out from the tops of their cubicles. While we don't recommend disturbing your co-workers with squeals, feel free to pass this little guy along..

below, Mom takes a snack break of her own, but baby's not far behind...

Taronga Zoo staff are celebrating the birth of a bright orange, endangered Francois Langur, the first to be raised by its mother in Australia. The male infant, named ‘Gan Ju’ meaning orange in Mandarin was born to mother, ‘Saigon’, and father, ‘Hanoi’ and discovered in the early morning of Thursday 22 April by the Zoo’s dedicated keeping staff who had been monitoring the pregnancy.

Photo Credit: Lorinda Taylor / Taronga Zoo

A bequest left by the late Jacqueline Crookston, enabled the Taronga Wildlife Hospital to purchase a much needed digital x-ray machine, and when the Zoo's veterinary team tested out the new equipment they were delighted to see an astonishingly clear image of the unborn ‘Gan Ju’ steadily growing inside its mother.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Sea Otter Research and Conservation (SORAC) program is renowned for its success at rescuing orphan pups and releasing them back into the wild. Just last week, Monterey celebrated the news that two female sea otters raised as stranded pups by surrogate mothers at the aquarium have each given birth in the wild to their second set of pups. Programs like SORAC demonstrate the direct link between the groundbreaking research efforts performed at many accredited zoos and conservation efforts in the field. 

Photo credits: © Monterey Bay Aquarium/Randy Wilder

Baby sloths cling to mom for the first nine months of life and this little six month old is still enjoying her free ride. These photos of mother sloth Alba and her daughter, were taken May 2nd by Shirley Ng at the Singapore Zoo. As newborns, baby sloths are only the size of a baseball.

 Sleepy time... yet again...

Born late last year, this little Colobus monkey got off to a rough start. Health problems resulted in her small size for her age and it appeared that mother, Zoe, might not be producing sufficient milk to nourish her baby. Luckily, veterinary and zookeeper staff at Mesker Park Zoo stepped in, providing supplemental feedings around the clock. Today little Garnet is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as you can see in the pictures below. Colobus monkeys are born white and turn black as juveniles.

Photo credits: Jessa Franck