New Zealand’s Auckland Zoo is hearing the pitter-patter of fluffy red feet!  A Red Panda cub born in mid-January is growing fast, and keepers were able to snap a few quick photos during the cub’s recent weigh-ins.

Photo Credit:  Auckland Zoo

At one month old, the little cub weighed about one pound.  Bo, the cub’s mother, appears to be taking good care of her cub, because it increased in weight about 25 percent in one week, adding a quarter-pound.

Cubs stay in the nest until they are about three months old, after which they begin exploring the outside world under mom’s watchful eye.  At about five to six months old, cubs begin weaning from mother’s milk to bamboo and other leaves, berries, bird eggs, and flower blossoms.

Red Pandas are native to China, Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar, where they inhabit cool, temperate bamboo forests.  Fewer than 10,000 adult Red Pandas are thought to live in the wild, where they are listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

See more photos of the Red Panda cub below.

The Los Angeles Zoo welcomed a male Masai Giraffe calf, on November 20^th. 

Photo Credits: Los Angeles Zoo

The calf was born to six-year-old mother ‘Hasina’, and 18-year-old father, ‘Artemus’. This is the second calf for Hasina, who came from the San Diego Zoo in 2010.

This is a birth the L.A. Zoo is thankful for, as the population of giraffes across the African continent is drastically declining due to hunting and habitat loss.

A Los Angeles area couple also felt a connection to the baby giraffe, and they made the decision to ‘adopt’ the baby and chose to name him ‘Leo’. In making a significant gift to the Zoo’s animal acquisition fund, which promotes vital wildlife preservation and breeding projects locally and around the world, donors Patricia and Stanley Silver chose to name the baby giraffe after Mrs. Silver’s late father, Leo Guthman.

Leo can now be seen on exhibit with the other giraffes daily, weather permitting.

The first birth of 2015, at the El Paso Zoo, was a female Thomson's Gazelle. 

Photo Credits: El Paso Zoo

As with all gazelle and antelope births, at the El Paso Zoo, the babies are initially left to bond with their moms for several hours, or overnight, before brief initial examinations are conducted to make sure babies are healthy and nursing. The babies are immediately placed back with mom and their herd after their exams.

The Thomson’s Gazelle is one of the best-known gazelles. Named after explorer Joseph Thomson, it is sometimes referred to as a “Tommie”.  Native to Africa’s savannas and grassland habitats, particularly the Serengeti region of Kenya and Tanzania, it has a habitat preference for short grasslands.

After mating and a five to six month gestation period, females will leave the herd to give birth to a single fawn. They generally give birth twice yearly with 1-2 fawns. In the first six hours of the fawn’s life, it moves and rests with its mother, but eventually spends more time away from the mother or hides in grasses. The mother will remain in the vicinity of the fawn and return periodically, throughout the day, to nurse the baby. Mothers, in the wild, will defend their young against jackals and baboons, but not against larger predators. Head-butting is her means of defense against the smaller predators.

At around two months of age, the young will begin to spend more time grazing with mother and less time in hiding. However, the mother will also continue to nurse her offspring, during this time period.

The Thomson’s Gazelle is classified as “Near Threatened” on the IUCN Red List. There was an estimated population decline of 60% from 1978 to 2005. Threats to the animal include: tourist impacts, habitat modification, fire management, and road development. 

On February 13^th, Zoo Liberec welcomed its 90^th Chapman’s Zebra!  The female, named ‘Jin’, was born to mother, ‘Juou’.

Photo Credits: Zoo Liberec

Chapman’s Zebra is a subspecies of the plains zebra. Like their relatives, they are native to the savannah of north-east South Africa, north to Zimbabwe, west into Botswana, Namibia, and southern Angola.

The Chapman’s Zebra eats mainly grass and occasionally shrubs. They are distinguished by stripes on the lower halves of the legs, which break up into many irregular brown spots. When foals are born, they have brown stripes, and in some cases, adults do not develop the black coloration in their fur and keep the brown stripes.

Chapman’s Zebra are currently classified as “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List, but they are at risk due to habitat destruction and illegal poaching.

The Zoo Liberec is the oldest in the area of former Czechoslovakia. It was founded in 1919. It was originally used, in part, as the winter quarters for circus animals.

Today, the zoo breeds more than 170 species with an overall number of 1000 individuals. More than 500 animals are registered in different European conservation programs, such as EEP, ESB and RDB. These national programs try to save species facing extinction. 

NaturZoo Rheine is happy to announce the birth of a Sloth Bear! 

Photo Credits: NaturZoo Rheine

The cub was born on December 6, 2014, but the news of the birth was kept under-cover in order to allow much needed bonding time with the mother. Remote control cameras, in the den, showed the mother was doing an outstanding job with her new offspring, during this time.  In early February, it was determined the cub is a male. Zoo staff have named the new little guy ‘Niko’.

Sloth Bears, originating from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, are rare sights in zoos. There are just 25 individuals kept in European zoos, and these are managed by a breeding-programme (EEP). This season, only Zoo Leipzig and NaturZoo Rheine are lucky enough to have successful births of this unique bear species, which is characterized by a shaggy black coat, long claws and long snout.

NaturZoo Rheine has cared for Sloth Bears since 2009 when a new state-of-the-art bear-enclosure was opened. There was a first birth in December 2013, but the young was found dead two days after birth. Hopefully, Niko will be the first successful birth and rearing of a Sloth Bear in Rheine.

The parents of Niko are both zoo-born themselves: Father “Franz” was born in Leipzig Zoo in 2005, and mother “Devi” originates from Zoo Berlin, where she was born in 2008.

It will take several more weeks until the young bear will start to explore the outdoor-enclosure. So far he is exercising in the indoor-rooms.

Taronga Zoo is celebrating the arrival of an Eastern Bongo calf, one of the rarest antelope species in the world.

Photo Credits: Taronga Zoo

Born in the early hours on February 8^th, the calf has had time to bond with its mother, off display, before coming out onto exhibit for the first time.

Keepers are yet to determine the sex of the calf, which is the third born to mother, ‘Djembe’, and father, ‘Ekundu’.

“Djembe is a fantastic, protective mother and cleaned the calf as soon as it was born. The calf has already learnt to follow its mother around and was very curious and energetic when exploring its exhibit for the first time,” said Ungulate Keeper, Tracy Roberts.

Tracy said the new calf was an important addition to the Australasian breeding program, helping to save the critically endangered species from extinction.

“Every birth of a healthy calf is important, with fewer than 100 of these gentle animals left in the wild. Sadly Eastern Bongo numbers have collapsed due to poaching, disease and destruction of their native habitat in Kenya’s highlands,” she said.

Taronga is also helping to protect Bongos in the wild through its support of the Bongo Surveillance Project in the highlands of central Kenya. The project monitors herds and individual Bongo movements using visual signs, camera traps and GPS equipment and also combats poaching activities by removing illegal traps and snares.

More amazing pics, below the fold!

A tiny Carpet Chameleon has just emerged from its egg at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo!  Weighing about the same as four toothpicks, this little Lizard is one of seven Carpet Chameleons to hatch between January 12 and February 12 at the zoo.

Photo Credit:  Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo

Native to Madagascar, Carpet Chameleons are one of the smallest true Chameleons.  In their forest habitat, Carpet Chameleons sport dark colors in the mornings as they warm themselves in the sun.  Once they are warmed up, they traverse tree branches in search of flies, grasshoppers, and insect larvae.  Food is captured on the tips of the Chameleons’ sticky tongues, which can be as long as the Lizards themselves (up to 10 inches). 

At just three months of age, carpet Chameleons reach sexual maturity and begin breeding.  Though many species in Madagascar are threatened with extinction, these Chameleons are abundant.

See more photos of the Chameleon below.

The Duke Lemur Center announces their first birth of 2015. Lupicina, a female Coquerel’s Sifaka, was born on January 8.

Photo Credit David Haring/Duke Lemur Center

Lupicina’s parents are female Euphemia and male Lucius Verus.  She weighed less than a quarter-pound at birth (about 103 g) and is doing well under Euphemia’s care.  Lucius Verus and the baby’s uncle Thrax are gradually being introduced to mom and baby.

Found only in Madagascar, Coquerel’s Sifakas are a type of Lemur.  They are most well known for their unusual method of locomotion called vertical clinging and leaping.  While in a vertical posture, they leap up to 20 feet through the trees using only the power of their back legs, not their arms.  On the ground, they hop sideways on their back feet while standing erect.

Sifakas are named for their distinctive “shif-auk” call they make while moving through the treetops.  In the forest, they feed on young leaves, fruit, tree bark, and flowers, and have been recorded foraging on 98 different plant species.

Highly social, Sifakas live in groups of three to 10 animals.  The Sifaka colony at the Duke Lemur Center has produced more young than any other colony in the world.  About half of the Center’s 60 Sifiakas live at zoos around the United States. In Madagascar, Sifaka populations have declined by half in the last 50 years, primarily due to habitat destruction and hunting pressures.  They are listed as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

ZooBorns introduced our readers to a trio of Lion Cubs, at the Sacramento Zoo, in November 2014.  In January, we provided a follow-up, with pictures from their first days on public exhibit. The cubs and their parents are back, and we have awesome new pics of their life as a family unit. 

Photo Credits: Erik Bowker (Images 1,2,3,4,5); Andrys Basten (Images 6,7,8,9,10)

The African Lion family of five has been together for a month now, and the interactions between the cubs and parents are amazing to watch. Lions are different from other cat species, living in prides instead of being solitary in their behavior. The 16-week-old trio of cubs are learning from their parents, testing boundaries and sometimes being scolded by mom and dad. They are learning how to be one of the pride, what their roles are and the hierarchy between the cubs themselves.

The cubs also learn specific behaviors from the same sex parent. The male cub pays close attention to how his sire acts, and you'll often see them spending time alone together as the cub learns how to be a male lion. The same goes for the pair of female cubs and time with their mom.

Along with chewing on grass, sticks and sometimes each other, the cubs are nursing less and starting to eat whole food following mom's example at mealtime. This switch will help the cubs get the nutrition they need during their rapid growth spurts. 

The extra barrier in front of the lion exhibit, at the Zoo, has now been removed so visitors can enjoy a better view of the pride.

More amazing pics, below the fold!

Planckendael Zoo, in Belgium, recently witnessed the birth of the largest animal ever born at the zoo.

Photo Credits: Planckendael

On February 7^th, ‘Diamond’ gave birth to a boy who measured just a little over 6 ½ feet! Mother and baby are doing well, and the newcomer is fitting right in with the rest of the herd at the zoo.

(More great photos, below the fold!)