Denver Zoo is celebrating the birth of four endangered Amur tiger cubs born May 31 in a private maternity den. The cubs cannot be seen by visitors yet and are being monitored by keepers via a closed-circuit camera. Zoo veterniarians gave the cubs a clean bill of health at a recent exam.The quadruplet cubs are the first to be born at Denver Zoo since 2003. An announcement will be made when the cubs are big enough to be seen in their zoo habitat.

Photo Credits: Dave Parsons/Denver Zoo

Meet the Melbourne Zoo's newest Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo joey. While the baby is actually six months old, the little marsupial is just now starting to poke its head out of mom's pouch so these are some of the first glimpses for keepers and the public! Believe it or not, people actually hunt this rare kangaroo for food in its native home of Indonesia. Combined with habitat destruction, the animal's status is soon to be downgraded from endangered to critically endangered by the IUCN. These outstanding photos were taken by photographer Angelica Jellibat.

More photos and info below the fold...

The UK's Wildlife Heritage Foundation announced the birth of four Pallas's Cat kittens on May 28th to proud parents Tula (F) and Wei Shand (M). Tula is doing a fabulous job of caring for all her new kittens and they are growing up very fast!  In the following videos the kittens can be seen at 5 days old and then 3 weeks old, which helps give you an idea of how quickly these kittens are developing. 

Note that what appears to be hissing in the second video is actually the kittens smelling the keepers when they come to check-in. The WHF explains that they are actually quite relaxed and this open-mouthed smelling behavior dissipates as they get older.

UPDATE: Just got this new video in along with new instructions - #1) Avoid bright light #2) Don't get them wet and #3) NEVER feed them after midnight.

The Yorkshire Dales Falconry Centre is committed to educating the public about the need to protect wild birds of prey and promoting associated conservation efforts. These pictures of a snowy owl chick born at the center were taken earlier today by photographer Margaret Woodward. Snowy owl parents are well equipped for defending their babies. When a predator gets too close to the nest, both mother and father will dive-bomb the threat with their sharp talons extended.

O RLY?

On Sunday June 13th, Denver Zoo welcomed a vocal little sea lion pup, their first in 17 years! Denver Zoo visitors now can see the female pup as she explores the seal pool in the zoo’s Northern Shores area with her mother. Weighing just 15 pounds now, she will eventually tip the scales at a burly 195 to 230 pounds.

Photo credits: Dave Parsons / Denver Zoo

Last week at San Diego Zoo, photographer Nathan Rupert caught these precious moments when a newborn Crested Screamer tried out some new steps with Mom as her guide. Crested, or Southern Screamers establish monogamous relationships which last throughout their 15-year lifespan. Screamer chicks leave the nest after hatching, but their parents care for them for several weeks.

Photographer Paula Longshore captured these expressive images of mother koala 'Colliet' with her six-month-old joey at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo's Gum Leaf Hideout yesterday. Koala moms like Colliet bear one young every two years and may even adopt abandoned babies.

Photographer Sean Gordon took some outstanding photographs of Edmonton Valley Zoo's young Arctic fox pups last Tuesday. In the wild, Arctic fox litters typically comprise five to eight babies, although reports of as many as 25 kits in a single litter have been recorded. That would make for one massive puppy pile-on!

Dad keeps a watchful eye...

Note Mom's two-toned peepers...

It was love at first sight for Shama and Tate, the red pandas at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, and now, nearly 1½ years after they were introduced, the pair has a cub as evidence of their strong bond. On Wednesday, June 16, Shama gave birth to a single cub—the first for both of the Zoo’s red pandas and the first red panda cub born at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in 15 years.

Photo Credits: Smithsonian's National Zoo

Nashville Zoo’s clouded leopard Jing Jai gave birth to a rare female cub on May 24. This is the second clouded leopard birth at the Zoo in two years as the Zoo continues its work to save this species in decline. At one month old, the cub, named Matsi, weighs 1.5 pounds and is being hand-reared by Zoo staff. Clouded leopards are seriously endangered because of deforestation, poaching and the pet trade.

Photo credits: Christian Sperka

 “Clouded leopard conservation is a unique and ambitious project at Nashville Zoo,” said Rick Schwartz, Nashville Zoo president. “The birth of the female cub not only adds to a worldwide clouded leopard population that is rapidly decreasing, but it also increases the genetic viability of the captive population.”

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