A new pair of baby ring-tail lemur twins were born at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust on March 28, 2011, to proud parents Muriel and Hannibal. The babies are usually with mum, clinging to her belly to start.Over the last few weeks they have begun climbing on her back so that they can take a good look at their surroundings. Dad Hannibal has been seen grooming the babies and sitting with his arm around Muriel. In just a short time the twins have grown quite a bit -- and gotten very active!

This female Grevy's Zebra named Lisa was just born at California's B Bryan Preserve on June 2, 2011. Foals can walk just 20 minutes after they are born, which is an important survival adaptation for this migrating species. Their coats sport dazzling narrow stripes that wrap around in a concentric pattern and are bisected by a black stripe running down the spine.

Lisa is enjoying some solitary bonding time with her mother Sarah, but will join the rest of the 9 mares living on the preserve in a few weeks. Grevy’s are social animals. The basic social unit is comprised of a female mare with one or two young. However, mixed groups of 100 to 200, sometimes up to 450 zebras, are not uncommon during migration and around water points in the dry season.

Social grooming plays a large role in social bonding. They communicate using facial expressions and sounds, and groom each other by biting and nibbling each other to scratch and remove loose hairs. 

Photo Credit: B Bryan Preserve

The Grevy’s zebra is the largest, wildest and most untamable of the three zebra species remaining in Africa. This beauty is one of several critically endangered Grevy’s Zebras that the preserve is trying to breed in captivity to sustain the species. There are less than 2,000 of these beautiful zebra species left in the world, mostly restricted to restricted to Ethiopia and northern Kenya.

B Bryan Preserve, located in Point Arena on the coast of Northern California, is committed to the breeding and conservation of the critically endangered Grevy's zebra, endangered Mountain Zebra and Kudu, Roan and Sable Antelope.

On May 3rd, Monarto Zoo welcomed a beautiful African Lion cub to its fold. The cub appears healthy and strong and mother, Kiamba, is an excellent caretaker for the new arrival.  Monarto zoo is offering the public the opportunity to name the cub through the auction website eBay. African lions in the wild are in decline as a result of habitat loss, human conflict and disease from domestic animals. Wild populations have gone from nearly 250,00 individuals in the 1960's to less than 20,000 today. Professor Christopher West, CEO of Zoos South Australia said, “We are celebrating the arrival of a single lion cub who will act as an ambassador of its species to people in Australia. We want people to help us secure a future for wild lions in Africa.”

Photo credits: Sunday Mail

More photos below the fold...

The Toledo Zoo is proud to announce that after a 22 month gestation, on Friday, June 2, Renee, one of their two female African elephants, gave birth to a male calf. The unnamed calf was born without assistance and appears to be healthy, weighing in at approximately 200 – 225 lbs. He stood within minutes of his birth and Renee is showing excellent maternal behavior. This is 32-year-old Renee's second baby. The first, Louie, celebrated his 8th birthday not long ago.  

Renee was artificially inseminated. The successful birth of Renee’s calf is vital to the zoo elephant population for several reasons.  The population of females is aging rapidly with a large percentage exceeding the prime breeding age for the species.  Captive breeding efforts are also hampered by a lack of breeding-age bulls and bulls that are of age but show no inclination toward breeding. However, through vigorous breeding efforts, it is hoped that the African elephant zoo population will have a strong future.


Photo Credits: Toledo Zoo/Andi Norman

Have a look at this beyond-cute video of the baby testing out his legs:

It's as if she's saying, "I'm here World!" And that is very good news, as this animal is severely threatened.

Last month, in the Kaziranga Forest Trail at the Dublin Zoo, blackbuck parents Honey and Basil welcomed this lively little female - their first offspring. She's also the first ever blackbuck newborn at the Zoo. Team leader Ciaran McMahon said, “We are thrilled with the arrival of our first blackbuck calf. We hope to grow the herd to approximately seven or eight, and the new calf is a great start. The youngster is fit and nimble but still quite shy; however she can be seen bouncing around the elephant habitat between 1:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. every day.”

Contrary to what their name suggests, the coloring of female calves like this one is a light tan shade. In adulthood, male bucks have striking black and white fur, and two long, twisted horns (they can be as long as 31 inches, or 46 cm), while females are fawn colored and without horns.

The blackbuck is a species of the antelope and one of the fastest terrestrial animals in the world, reaching speeds of up to 50 miles per hour (80 km/hr). In India, their country of origin, blackbucks live side by side with elephants and at the Dublin Zo, blackbucks also co-habit with their herd of Asian elephants.

Often called the Indian antelope, due to their native range being in Indian subcontinent (which includes Pakistan and Nepal), dramatically decreased, as it was the most hunted animal in the country. Though now Indian laws prohib it hunting the blackbuck to protect this endangered species, there are still incidents of poaching, because it's flesh and skin get quite a high price in the markets. In addition, man continues to encroach upon its habitat, mostly turning it into grazing areas for cattle -- and those cattle also have spread bovine diseases to the blackbuck. In 2008 the population estimate in the wild was estimated to be a startlingly low 184 antelope.

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.

Here's a set of baby pictures that just may produce squeals of delight! These nine Tamworth piglets were born in the first week of May, 2011, at the Dublin Zoo's Family Farm to mom Ginger. Five are males and four are female.

Eddie O’Brien, team leader of the Family Farm said, “The piglets are thriving and full of beans. During the first couple of weeks we kept a close eye on the one little runt of the pack, as he was smaller and weaker than the others. There was no need to worry as we soon realized he is equally as fit and able as the rest of his siblings...  He never misses a meal!”

Photo Credits: Dublin Zoo

Among the oldest of pig breeds, the Tamworth is a domestic pig originating in the UK. They are thought to have descended from wild boars, via native pig stock of Europe. Principal populations today are in the United Kingdom, Australia, USA, New Zealand and Canada. Also called Sandy Backs and Tams, they are listed as "Threatened" in the US and as "Vulnerable" in the UK by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. There are fewer than 300 registered breeding females.

On Thursday, May 19 at approximately 6:30 a.m. Sedgwick County Zoo welcomed a baby Orangutan into the world. Baby is doing fine while mom, Daisy, is recovering nicely. However, she hasn’t shown much interest in being a mom or caring for her newborn. Zookeepers worked with Daisy to encourage an early bond with the newborn and continue working with her on maternal care behaviors. Daisy and the newborn Orangutan remain off exhibit so keepers can work with Daisy and care for the infant.

Photo credits: Sedgwick County Zoo

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.”

Two fuzzy, bright-eyed ring-tailed lemurs were born on Saturday, May 14, 2011 at Bioparc Valencia in Spain. Within a few hours, early morning visitors to their habitat could see them clinging to their mother's belly. This is the third set of babies for their ten year old mom, who has been at Bioparc Valencia since 2007. Ring-tail lemur babies usually spend their first two weeks of life grasping their mother's abdomen before they switch to riding on her back. 

Photo credits: Bioparc Valencia