Three King Penguin chicks hatched at the Saint Louis Zoo's Penguin & Puffin Coast this January and February. The chick hatches after about 55 days. Its parents then continue to keep it warm under their belly flap for 30-40 days until it grows too large to cover. They continue to share feeding duties for about eight months. This handsome bird is one of the largest penguin species. As an adult, it weighs about 33 pounds, second only to the Emperor penguin.

The penguin chick keepers routinely weigh the youngsters to monitor their growth. After the quick check, they are returned to their parents. Don't miss the video of this below.

Photo Credit: Ray Meibaum/Saint Louis Zoo

Now you can see the chicks in action as they get weighed... and hear them, as these little ones can peep really loudly! 

Photo credits: Secret World Wildlife Rescue Center

An unsuspecting dog walker heard the tiny screams of this newborn Fox cub from within a thorny bramble bush in Weston-super-Mare, England and immediately notified Secret World Wildlife Rescue Center. Center Manager Sara Cowen was able to extract the tiny Fox from the thorn covered fox hole and rush him to an incubator on site. It is suspected that the cub's mother had to make a hasty escape from her den, leaving vulnerable Pedro behind. Cowen said, "He would almost certainly have died if we hadn’t found him so soon." Pedro is the smallest Fox ever to come into Secret World's care.

Belfast Zoo’s recent baby boom has continued with the birth of Marjorie, the Malayan Tapir. Marjorie was born on March 4 to parents Gladys and Elmer.

Zoo Curator Andrew Hope said, “Malayan tapirs are a beautiful but slightly unusual looking species. They are related to horses and rhinoceroses. The adults have a distinctive coat pattern and are black on the front and white on the back. However, when the calves are born they have beige spotted and striped markings, which make them look incredibly like ‘watermelons on legs’. Marjorie will begin to lose her markings after a few months. When she is six months old, she will look like a miniature adult!”

Malayan tapirs are the only tapir from Asia and are found in Indonesia, Burma (Myanmar), Malaysia and Thailand. This incredible species faces a high risk of extinction, with studies estimating that the population could decline by up to 50% over the next 30 years. The main reasons for their decline are the destruction of their forest habitats and they are also hunted for meat and sport.

Photo Credit: Belfast Zoo

Story continues after the jump!

A female Baringo Giraffe calf was born this month at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo. The calf was approximately 6 feet tall and over 100 pounds at birth. As an adult, she could eventually grow to 16 feet and weigh 2,600 pounds.

Giraffes are native to grasslands, savannas, and open woodlands in central, east, and southern Africa. The Baringo, or Rothschild’s, Giraffe is found in western Kenya and eastern Uganda. While Giraffe populations are robust in many places, overall the population is decreasing. The Wildlife Conservation Society works across the globe and within the giraffe’s African range to save wildlife and wild places. WCS is working to protect giraffes in key African landscapes like Zakouma, Chad, Murchison Falls, Uganda, and in the Sahel of South Sudan.

Photo credits: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS

The calf has not been named as of now. The Bronx Zoo names all of its giraffes in memory of Mr. and Mrs. James Carter, benefactors for the Carter Giraffe Building.

Photo credits: Zoological Society of San Diego

Less than a year old and barely out of their mothers' pouches, two young joeys visited the San Diego Zoo Safari Park's veterinary hospital for their first medical exam. The two youngsters, named Thackary and Milo, were born last year in the Zoo's Koala Colony. Both babies received clean bills of health.

Primate keepers at Howletts Wild Animal Park near Canterbury have welcomed a very special new arrival to their family of Grizzled Leaf Monkeys. The baby was born on February 14 to mom Juleha and has been named Asmara by her doting keepers. Asmara's birth makes her the twentieth baby to join the family at Howletts - home to the only group of Grizzled Leaf monkeys in human care outside their native land of Java. 

Head Primate Keeper Matt Ford said, "We are delighted with this new arrival; Mum and baby are doing very well. This new birth provides hope for the survival of these endangered primates in captivity." 

Grizzled Leaf monkeys are native to Java and live in primary and secondary rainforest, although drastic deforestation in the area has lead to destruction of their habitat, forcing them to live in forest fragments at higher altitude. Matt added "Deforestation has resulted in habitat loss for the Grizzled Leaf Monkey – only 4% of their original forest habitat remains on the island of Java." 

Photo Credit: Dave Rolfe

Read more about the Aspinall Foundation's work with the grizzled green leaf monkey after the jump. 

February 29th marked the official debut of The Netherlands' Ouwehands Zoo's Polar Bear cubs. Under the careful supervision of their mother 'Huggies', the cubs explored their outdoor exhibit for the first time. Born December 1st of 2011, the twins play a crucial role in educating their visiting public about the plight of this highly endangered species. Climate change is melting the sea ice on which this majestic creature depends for its survival in the wild, pushing Polar Bears to the brink of extinction.

Ouwehands' Polar Bear group consists of seven individuals; Victor, the twins' father, Freedom and her two cubs Siku and Sesi, Huggies and her two yet unnamed cubs.

Photo credits: Rob Doolaard, Robert Pleizier

The following video is in Dutch, but shows the cubs in action...

These two white Jaguar twins were born at the Aschersleben Zoo in East Germany on January 18 and 19. They are now venturing outside with their mother. There's a special story behind these two, if the fact that they are white isn't sepcial enough. Their parents are rather old, and so this pregnancy was quite unexpected. To top it off, the cubs had open eyes from birth, which is normally not the case. 

Their father Mescal has a typical spotty tan and black coat, and 13-year-old mother Polly is jet black. The youngsters are currently white with pale grey markings, which is highly unusual, but it is not known how their color will change as they continue to grow.

Jaguars are found on the American continents. They live in Texas, Arizona, Southern California and New Mexico in the US and in the rain forests of Central and South America. They feed on a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic animals - two of which are cattle and sheep, a reason why they are killed by men. While this is one of the most fierce of the big cats, a jaguar seldom attacks human beings unless it's cornered. People also hunt the jaguar for it's beautiful pelt,as well as sport, making the jag endangered. Additionally, the population has declined over the last 100 years because much of their forest and grassland home range in Central and South America has been destroyed to make way for cities. In the US, habitat destruction has been due to logging and cattle ranching, which did double damage by removing their sources of food. 

Photo Credit: Aschersleben Zoo

The video narration is in German, but has great footage.

This story continues after the jump:

The Dingo pups born at Fort Wayne Children's Zoo on January 30th are growing up fast! In these new photos from the zoo, the puppies can be seen frolicking in their outdoor environment. Pure Dingoes are increasingly rare in the wild due to hybridization of the species with domesticated dogs. The 6-week-old pups are strong and confident, and in between wrestling and playing, their favorite pit stop is this large hollow log!

Photo credit: Fort Wayne Children's Zoo

Crowds of visitors can be found jostling for space in front of the meerkat enclosure in Viennas' Schönbrunn Zoo. The reason for this is the three baby Meerkats with their black button eyes and snub noses that are beginning to discover their surroundings.

“The lively triplets were born on February 20th, but as Meerkats are blind and naked at birth they spend their first few weeks in the safety of their burrow” says Dagmar Schratter, the Zoo’s director, who is delighted about the offspring of this popular species. “With ten animals we now have a really extended meerkat family”

The three mini-meerkats are still being suckled by their mother but in a few weeks time the first insects will be added to their diet. The mother is not the only caregiver for the young animals. Meerkats live in social groups and each animal has clearly defined duties. Only a few days after their birth, a member of the clan assumes the role of “babysitter” and keeps an eye on the little ones while they play with each other, dig around in the sandpit or get up on their hind legs like tin soldiers. Meerkats belong to the mongoose family and live in the savannahs in the south of Africa.

Photo Credits: Schönbrunn Zoo/ Norbert Potensky