Living Coasts Aquarium has bred a venomous fish for the first time. The new arrival is the first Blue Spotted Stingray is only the second one ever born in the UK. According to Living Coasts zoo keeper Stuart McGeachie, “It was born in July, live and fully formed, complete with stinging barb and claspers - male appendages. It was about 10 centimeters across - they grow to around 30 to 35 centimeters.”

Torquay’s coastal zoo is home to three adult blue spotted stingrays – males Zorro and Baby Boy, and female Baby Boo. McGeachie added, “We are not sure which male is the father, as both were seen trying to mate with the female. Zorro is the larger of the two, so we suspect it is him!”

Photo credits: Living Coasts Aquarium

Living Coasts director Elaine Hayes said: “They are seen in aquariums, but they get confused with blue-spotted ribbontail rays (Taeniura lymma ). Because of this it is very difficult to establish numbers. The records say there are just 42 in collections, with only 3 births in the last 12 months, not including ours.”

The blue spotted stingray (Dasyatis kuhlii) is light green with blue spots. A member of the shark family, this saltwater fish is found in shallow tropical waters. It has venomous barbs on its tail.

In one of her last official engagements, Ireland's President Mary McAleese opened Dublin Zoo's new Gorilla Rainforest during a ceremony.

In a double celebration, Dublin Zoo also announced the birth of another healthy baby Gorilla born to first-time mum, Mayani, on Friday 16th September. The baby arrived just days after the Gorillas moved to their new habitat. The animal care team is delighted to confirm the baby Gorilla is female. Proud mum Mayani is cradling the infant close to her chest and both mother and baby are thriving.

Photo credits: Dublin Zoo

Three’s a charm as the Oklahoma City Zoo celebrates the birth of three Red Panda cubs! Born on June 25 to mom “Celeste” and dad “Yoda,” the cubs, two males and one female, are now discovering their outdoor habitat by Zoo Lake. This was the third set of cubs for both parents and a rare occurrence of a triple birth – usually Red Pandas only give birth to two cubs at a time. The cubs mark the eighth, ninth and tenth red panda births to occur at the zoo, with the most recent cub births in June of 2010. The 2010 cubs, a male a female, moved to other zoos in 2010 as part of the Species Survival Plan (SSP). The male went to the Central Park Zoo in New York and the female to the Indianapolis Zoo. These photos are courtesy of the Oklahoman newspaper.

Photo credits: Bryan Terry, Copyright 2011, The Oklahoman

The birth of the cubs is a great success for the red panda Species Survival Plan, or SSP. The program was developed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and is a cooperative effort among AZA accredited zoos throughout North America created to help promote genetic diversity through this species management program.

Reid Park Zoo in Tuscon, Arizona is proud to announce the debut of its African Lion Cubs, born July 28th. Mom "Kaya" and her three cubs,  will have access to their exhibit in the mornings (usually until 12:00 or 1:00pm) until further notice. The cubs do get tired, and will rest periodically behind the scenes, so getting to the zoo early is your best bet. African Lions are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan which seeks to manage and conserve a select and typically threatened or endangered species population with the cooperation of accredited zoos and aquariums.

Photo credits: Reid Park Zoo

Umngani is a mom again at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The African elephant gave birth to a male calf at 5:45 a.m. Monday, September 26, making her the first elephant in this herd to give birth to three calves.

Umngani, her 5-year-old daughter, Khosi, and her 2-year-old son, Ingadze, can be seen by Safari Park visitors as they watch over the newest member of the family, who is as yet unnamed. Khosi, whose nickname is “the babysitter,” is living up to her reputation, proving to be a wonderful big sister! She keeps a watchful eye on the calf, making sure he doesn’t stray far from their mother. Khosi also places her body between the newborn calf and the rest of the curious elephant herd.

Umngani and her three calves will continue to bond in the upper yard, separate from the rest of the herd, while the newborn gets steady on his feet, learns to follow his mother closely, and has at least a full day of nursing to make him strong. The Safari Park is now home to 18 elephants: 8 adults and 10 youngsters.The adults were rescued in 2003 from the Kingdom of Swaziland, where they faced being culled. 

Photo Credit: San Deigo Zoo

Now through October 30th Binder Park Zoo is asking for the community’s help to name its newest furry addition, a male Red Panda cub.   Binder Park Zoo’s animal care staff has come up with a list of five possible names for the cub. The choices and their translations are: Dagan, meaning grain of rice in Hebrew; Connolly meaning fierce in Gaelic; Reid meaning red-haired in Gaelic; Xu (pronounced “shoe”) meaning to snort in Chinese; and Di meaning younger brother in Chinese.

Photo credits: Binder Park Zoo

This Red Panda birth is another success for Red panda Conservation.  Red Pandas are listed as an endangered species and Binder Park Zoo works with the Red Panda Species Survival Plan (SSP) to ensure the captive population remains genetically strong. Delilah is 5 years old and on loan to Binder Park Zoo from the Bronx Zoo as she was genetically matched to breed with Binder’s 8 year old male, Fagen.  Currently, Flynn, Delilah’s male cub that was born at Binder Park Zoo in June of 2010, is on exhibit while Delilah and her new cub get better acquainted.

The Phoenix Zoo has just recieved eight Komodo dragon babies on loan from the Los Angeles Zoo. Four males and four females, all from the same clutch, hatched between August 6 and August 11. They weigh about 5 ounces each.

Komodo dragons are the largest living species of lizard and can grow larger than 10 feet long and weigh more than 200 pounds. To get an idea of how large these little guys can grow up to be, they can be compared to the zoo's two adult Komodos: Gaia, a 15-year-old female and her brother Ivan. Gaia is 7 feet long and weighs 75 pounds while Ivan weighs in at approximately 120 pounds and is 8 feet long.

The babies will be on display starting Saturday and will be in Phoenix through the spring.

Photo Credits: The Phoenix Zoo, Egg Photo Credit: Ian Recchio

Thunder, lightning and strong winds greeted the National Zoo’s two female Red Panda cubs when they were born June 17, and that stormy night has now determined their names. One cub, Pili, received her name today after voting closed on NBC Washington’s website. Pili, which means “clap of thunder” in Chinese, was the winner among four names—all storm-related—with 30 percent of the vote. A Zoo supporter named Pili’s twin sister Damini, which is Nepalese for “lightning.”

Photo credits: Mehgan Murphy, Smithsonian's National Zoo

Red pandas are native to the cool, temperate bamboo forests of Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar and Nepal. They have long, sharp claws and a reddish coat with white markings, which helps them blend in with the red mosses and white lichens that grow on the trees in which they live. Red pandas are listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as the result of habitat loss and poaching. Only about 2,500 adult red pandas remain in the wild. 

Red panda enthusiasts can watch both cubs and their parents, Shama and Tate, on the Zoo’s red panda webcam.

Nearing her one year birthday,Western Lowland Gorilla baby Kambiri is thriving at the Franklin Park Zoo. Mom Kiki and Dad Kitombe did an excellent job in raising her. The baby, born November 3 inside Franklin Park Zoo’s Tropical Forest, was originally featured on Zooborns.com during her first well-baby visit to the vet. She was found to be very healthy then and it shows! We thought you'd like to see her and wish her happy birthday.

She's now eating leafy greens with the baby teeth that are starting to come in, playing with her blanket and dozing against mom.

Photo Credit:Don Crasco

There's a new crew at the water's edge at the Santa Barbara Zoo - a second litter of baby Asian small-clawed Otters, five in all! Born on May 21, at fourteen weeks old and weighing 3.3 pounds, the new pups have been kept in a den by their parents behind the scenes until they grew their waterproof fur, and were old enough to swim and eat solid food.

The babies join their six older siblings who, at just over a year old help mom and dad in the care of the new pups, thus learning important pup-rearing skills for their own future as parents. This makes for a total of thirteen otters in the group. Their exhibit’s three-foot deep pool has been sectioned off for the new pups’ safety and will reopen next week when the pups are mature enough to dive. The Santa Barbara Zoo reports this whole passel of otters is delighting their guests!

Photo Credit: Sheri Horiszny/Santa Barbara Zoo

The parents - mom, Jillian, and dad, Bob - arrived at the Zoo in 2010 and were paired as part of a cooperative breeding program of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Jillian is one year and ten months old and was born at the Bronx Zoo. Bob, aged three years and six months, came from the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.