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.

Photo Credit: Taronga Western Plains Zoo

The Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium's 2-month-old Clouded Leopard cubs born June 14th are growing up fast and struttin' their stuff in pictures taken Friday.  Point Defiance Zoo is one of only three zoos in the country breeding endangered Clouded Leopards, along with the Smithsonian's National Zoo and The Nashville Zoo.

Photo credits: Seth Bynum / Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium

Late Friday night, Amsterdam's Atris Zoo welcomed its third baby Giant Anteater. The delivery took a little over an hour, after which the baby climbed on the back of its mother, where it will spend the better part of its first year of anteater life. The young are almost invisible to predators on their mothers' backs, as the stripes of mother and baby naturally blend together. 

Giant Anteaters have a remarkably long snout, a 60 inch tongue and long claws on the forelegs. The gestation period of the great anteater is about six months.

Photo Credit: Ronald van Weeren

A pouncing pair of Snow Leopard cubs recently appeared on the scene in their main enclosure at the Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire, England. And they've just gotten a check up by the vets! Born in June, they are yet to be named.

Parents Suou and Irma arrived at Twycross in May 2010 as part of the international breeding program. The birth of the cubs is a significant contribution to the conservation of Snow Leopards which are currently listed as endangered.

Sharon Redrobe Twycross Zoo's Director of Life Sciences said. "I am proud and delighted at this successful first breeding at Twycross Zoo. Our animal staff have worked hard to ensure the best conditions for the snow leopards to breed and their hard work and expertise has paid off in these delightful additions to the European breeding program."

"The dad is not currently in the enclosure with them as they need to be slightly older before he is introduced to them,'she continued, "but he has been chuffing through the separating enclosure - a big cat greeting."

Photo Credit:Twycross Zoo

The latest arrivals at the Highland Wildlife Park may look cute and cuddly, but these are three Pallas’s cat kittens from the high altitude regions of central Asia. The first Pallas’s cat kittens ever born around June 4 at the Highland Wildlife Park in the UK, to dad Beebop and mum Alula. They are now nine weeks old and are getting brave enough to explore their enclosure.

At first glance these gorgeous kittens look like a bit like domestic Persian cats with their rounder, fluffy appearance -- but with shorter ears. Pallas’s cats are mainly grey in colour with dark spots on the head and a dark ringedtail. Perfectly suited at blending into their rocky surroundings, Asian Pallas’s cats are found in the high plateaus and mountains of central Asia, from Iran to western China and Mongolia. These beautiful wild creatures are adapted to a life at very high altitudes and have thick fur to protect them against the environmental extremes of their habitat.

A small wild cat, the Pallas’s cat is currently classified as near threatened and has a decreasing wild population due to harmful agricultural practices and fur trapping.The European Zoo Association breeding program for this unusual and highly specialized cat species is managed by staff at the Highland Wildlife Park.

Photo Credit: Highland Wildlife Park

Three African Lion cubs were born to mom Kaya and father Shombay on July 28, at Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, AZ. Kaya’s Keeper arrived at work that morning and was surprised to hear them vocalizing!

Mom and the three cubs have been left largely undisturbed so that she can focus on taking good care of them, but vets gave the babies their first medical check this morning. The three cubs (two boys and a girl) seem healthy and strong. They won’t be on exhibit for a while, so they can have the time to bond with their mother and each other before starting to explore their world. 

Photo Credit:Reid Park Zoo

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.”

The Zlin Zoo in South Moravia has become the second in all of Europe to successfully breed a young Maguari stork. 

Zoo representative Pavel Shromazdil said, "The stork mother laid three eggs. They were the first eggs a Maguari stork ever laid in our zoo's history. The parents sat on the eggs assiduously, but after a fortnight they destroyed the nest." 

Only one of the eggs was left intact. Keepers put it in an incupbator and it hatched a chick on May 21. The baby stork was not accepted by it's parents so has continued to be hand raised and is a healthy little bird.

Maguari storks have been kept only in ten European zoos. Their successful breeding is very rare. "It is definitely unique. Since 2009, only the Berlin zoo has had a similar success with its [Maguari stork] couple that regularly raises young," Shromazdil said, referring to the stork offspring in Zlin. The Zlin Zoo has been keeping Maguari storks since 2004.

Photo Credit: Zlin Zoo

A litter of two African lion cubs was born at the Saint Louis Zoo on July 17. While one of the two females was stillborn, the mother lion, Cabara, age 5, seemed to be interested in caring for her surviving cub. After about six days, however, the little cub appeared dehydrated and so was removed for hand-rearing at the Zoo’s veterinary hospital. As a result she appears to be quite healthy after three weeks of hand-feeding! Her name is Imani, which means “faith” in Swahili

“What happens sometimes with a big cat nursing a single cub is that she doesn’t have enough stimulation for lactation and may not produce enough milk,” according to Steve Bircher, curator of mammals/carnivores at the Saint Louis Zoo. “In the future, we hope that Cabara will give birth to a larger litter and raise them successfully.” Several hours each day, keepers return her to a den next to her mother. The staff hopes to reintroduce the cub and mother sometime in the future. 

Photo Credit: Rachael Macy/Saint Louis Zoo

On July 6, 2011 a baby Black Duiker was born at Columbus Zoo and Aquarium to parents Chelsea and Kringle. This was a very important birth because it's so rare. This baby brings the population of Black Duikers in Zoos to a total of only 17!  While it is believed that there are 100,000 Black Duikers in the world today, their numbers are in decline due to hunting.

The baby doesn't yet have a name because it's keepers are waiting on gender confirmation, but it may be able to be seen by Zoo guests, as it has access to the yard area in it's parent's habitat. These photos taken August 9 give us a good look at an even better hair day!

Photo credits: Grahm S. Jones, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium