On April 15th, Zoo Miami’s newest baby Giraffe made its first appearance, on exhibit, with the rest of the herd!  The baby was born April 8th, to 4½ year old mom, ‘Sabra’. 

Photo Credits: Zoo Miami

The newborn weighed 108 pounds, stood a little over 5 feet tall, and staff determined the baby to be a female during her first neonatal exam. She has been named, ‘Princess Buttercup’.

Though this is Sabra’s first baby, it is the 47^th giraffe born in the history of Zoo Miami. The father’s name was ‘Fezzik’. He was born at the St. Louis Zoo and arrived at Zoo Miami in May of 1998. Unfortunately, Fezzik died in November of last year, due to age related crippling arthritis. Sabra arrived at Zoo Miami from the Blank Park Zoo, in Des Moines, Iowa, in November 2013.

Giraffes have a gestation period of approximately 15 months, and the mother rarely, if ever, lies down while giving birth. The baby falls about 4-6 feet to the floor, where it receives quite an impactful introduction to the world!  

More amazing pics, below the fold!

‘Abbey’, a 14-year-old Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra, at the Virginia Zoo, gave birth to a female foal April 13^th. This is the second foal for Abbey and the first for 11-year-old father ‘Zack’.

Photo Credits: Virginia Zoo

This is a significant birth for the species, as Hartmann’s Mountain Zebras are threatened in the wild, and there are less than 60 captive individuals in the North American Species Survival Plan (SSP).

“The foal appears very healthy and Abbey is an excellent, experienced mother,” says Virginia Zoo veterinarian Dr. Amanda Guthrie. “We are optimistic that this youngster will thrive and be an important member of the Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra SSP population.”

Female zebras produce a single foal every one to three years, after a gestation of approximately one year.  Each zebra has a unique stripe pattern, and after giving birth, the mother will position herself, between her foal and the rest of the herd, so the foal can imprint upon her stripe pattern. The foal will stay with its mother for a little over a year before being weaned.

Abbey and the filly are being given plenty of time to bond behind the scenes before being introduced to the rest of the herd. The Zoo will also make a special announcement when the time comes for the pair to go on public display.

Two infant Western Lowland Gorillas are making their public debut at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo. This is the second pair of Gorillas born at the Bronx Zoo in just over a year.  

Photo Credit:  Julie Larsen Maher
 

The Bronx Zoo has a successful history breeding Gorillas as part of the Species Survival Plan, a cooperative breeding program designed to enhance the genetic viability of animal populations in zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. These are the 16^th and 17^th Gorillas born at Congo Gorilla Forest; there have been 52 Gorillas born at the Bronx Zoo since 1972.

Layla (16 years old) gave birth on January 17, and Kumi (also 16 years old) had her baby on January 19. Ernie (32 years old) is the father of both babies. The gender of the infants is not yet known.  The babies join 17 other Gorlllas at the zoo.  

Gorillas are the world’s largest primates. Weighing only about 4 to 5 pounds at birth, adult males weigh between 350-450 pounds and when standing upright can be up to six feet tall. Adult females weigh between 150-250 pounds and are up to four feet tall. 

Western lowland Gorillas are designated as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Their natural range spans tropical and subtropical forests in equatorial Africa. WCS works throughout Central Africa to protect Gorillas from habitat loss and illegal hunting.

A baby Echidna is recovering at Australia’s Taronga Zoo after being seriously injured when its burrow was dug up by a bulldozer.

Photo Credit:  Paul Fahy

 

Zoo keepers have taken on the role of surrogate mother to the baby Echidna, called a puggle, feeding it a special milk mixture from the palms of their hands.

The puggle was first brought to the zoo with a deep wound to the side of its body after its nursery burrow was accidentally dug up by a bulldozer in December.

Believed to have been just two months old when rescued, the Echidna required weeks of antibiotics, hand rearing and sleep in a temperature-controlled artificial burrow. 

The puggle – which is still too young for keepers to determine its gender –has doubled in size since February.  Dubbed ‘Newman’ after the Seinfeld character who shares its beady eyes, the puggle is finally feeding confidently.

Instead of having teats like other mammals, Echidnas have patches on their abdomen that excrete milk for their young to lap up.  Newman now eats steadily for about 40 minutes at a time, stopping only to blow milk out its nose. As adults, Echidnas use their sticky tongues to slurp up ants and termites.

Echidnas belong to a group of egg-laying mammals called monotremes, which are found only in Australia and New Guinea.  Their spiny coats are an effective defense against predators.  If their spines aren’t enough to keep them safe, Echidnas use their powerful claws to dig themselves into the earth, disappearing like a sinking ship.

See more photos of Newman below.

Dartmoor Zoological Park is incredibly proud of their new Brazilian Tapir! Little ‘Rofilho’ was born, April 6^th, to mom ‘Chana’. 

Photo Credits: Dartmoor Zoological Park; Video Credits: Colin Northcott

Rofilho is Chana’s third son. He was named in honor of his father ‘Roger’, who, sadly, passed away a year ago. In Portuguese, ‘filho’ means son, and preceded by ‘Ro’, the new young man’s name means “Roger’s son”.

Tiny Rofilho has been a welcome surprise legacy for the Dartmoor family. The gestation period for a tapir is about 13 months, and it is very hard to tell if a female is pregnant, until the last month or so, when she begins producing milk in preparation.

The South American Tapir, or Brazilian Tapir, is one of five species in the tapir family, along with the Mountain Tapir, Malayan Tapir, Baird’s Tapir, and the Kabomani Tapir. It is the second-largest land mammal in South America, after the Baird’s Tapir.

The tapir is a herbivore. It uses its mobile snout to feed on leaves, buds, shoots, and small branches it tears from trees. Tapirs also enjoy fruit, grasses, and aquatic plants.

The Brazilian Tapir is currently classified as “Vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List. Dwindling numbers are due to poaching for meat and their hides. Habitat destruction also plays a role in their endangerment. 

More great pics, below the fold!

An adorable installment in the ZooBorns series, ZooBorns Motherly Love celebrates the special bond between exotic animal mothers and their babies from every corner of the globe: “Animal babies make conservation cute,” raves The New York Times. In stores now: http://amzn.to/1EZoGPw!

On April 4^th, Zoo Salzburg’s Southern White Rhino, ‘Tamu’, gave birth to her first offspring. The healthy male calf arrived, without complications, and was up on his feet an hour after birth. “Our joy is huge,” says Managing Director, Sabine Grebner. “After 505 days gestation period, our 9 year old White Rhino cow, Tamu, brought a healthy Rhino boy into the world at 5:05 in the morning.”

Tamu’s little boy is now a rowdy 12-day-old, and he recently enjoyed time in the spring sunshine with his mother.

Photo Credits: Zoo Salzburg The White Rhino is the largest extant species of rhinoceros. It has a wide mouth, used for grazing, and is the most social of all rhino species. The White Rhino consists of two subspecies: the Southern White Rhinoceros (with an estimated 17,460 wild-living individuals at the end of 2007, according to the IUCN), and the much rarer Northern White Rhinoceros.

Most White Rhinos in zoos are of the southern subspecies. In 2001, it was estimated there were 777 White Rhinos in captivity, worldwide.

The fully captive Northern White Rhino Population consists of only three animals.The San Diego Zoo Safari Park, in California, has one Northern White Rhino, a female named ‘Nola’. She was born in 1974, wild caught, and is on loan to the zoo from another facility. On December 14, 2014, a 44-year-old male, named ‘Angalifu’, died of old age at the San Diego Zoo.

One hybrid female, named ‘Nabire’, currently lives at a zoo in the Czech Republic. Born in 1983, her mother was a Northern White Rhino, but her father was a Southern White Rhino.

In recent news, it was widely reported that the only known male Northern White Rhino, in existence, is being protected with 24 hour security, at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. 

Back in February, ZooBorns featured news of the birth of ‘Niko’, the Sloth Bear cub, at NaturZoo Rheine. The young guy is now on public display in the Zoo’s outdoor exhibit, and he is enjoying one of the perks of being a Sloth Bear cub---traveling, in style, on mom 'Devi's' back! 

Photo Credits: NaturZoo Rheine

After mating, the gestation period, for Sloth Bears, lasts from 6 to 7 months. The mother will usually give birth to one to two hairless, blind cubs. Mom will remain in the cave with the cubs for the first 6 to 10 weeks, living mainly on her body reserves. When the time comes to leave their den, the cubs will ride on mothers back to and from the feeding grounds. The mother bear will usually carry her young in this manner for about 6 months, until the cubs are almost one-third her size.

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 was a male, and Zoo staff 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.

San Diego Zoo’s photogenic Jaguar cub is proving himself to be quite the handful…and mouthful. 

Photo Credits: Nancy Cunningham Casey (Image 1); Debbie Beals (2); Darlene McAfee (3); Ion Moe (4)

ZooBorns introduced you to the yet-to-be-named-cub last week, with a series of adorable photos. He was born March 12^th to mother, ‘Nindiri’, and he has been putting her mom-skills to the test.

The Jaguar is the only extant Panthera species native to the Americas. It is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and it is the largest big cat in the Western Hemisphere. The Jaguar’s present range extends from the Southwestern United States, Mexico, across much of Central America, south to Paraguay and into northern Argentina.

Unlike many other cats, Jaguars do not avoid water. They are known to be quite good swimmers. Rivers provide prey in the form of fish, turtles, or caimans. Jaguars also eat larger animals such as deer, peccaries, capybaras, and tapirs. They sometimes climb trees to prepare an ambush, killing their prey with one powerful bite.

Most Jaguars are tan or orange, with distinctive black spots, dubbed "rosettes" because they are shaped like roses. Some Jaguars are so dark they appear to be spotless, though their markings can be seen on closer inspection.

Jaguars live alone and define territories of many square miles by marking with their waste or clawing trees.

Females have litters of one to four cubs, which are blind and helpless at birth. The mother stays with them and defends them fiercely from any animal that may approach—even their own father. Young Jaguars learn to hunt by living with their mothers for two years or more.

The Jaguar is classified as “Near Threatened” on the IUCN Red List. The loss of parts of its range, including its virtual elimination from its historic North American areas, and the increasing fragmentation of the remaining range have contributed to this status. Jaguars are still hunted for their attractive fur. Ranchers also kill them because the cats sometimes prey upon their livestock.

After 46 years of waiting, Prague Zoo is finally home to a brand new Grant’s Zebra foal! The young stallion is in excellent condition, and he is receiving the attentive care needed from his mother. 

Photo Credits: Miroslav Bobek /Prague Zoo (Image 1); Jozef Sebíň /Prague Zoo (Images 2,3,4)

Grant’s Zebra is the smallest of six subspecies of plains zebra. They are native to Zambia west of the Luangwa River and west to Kariba, Shaba Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and north to the Kibanzao Plateau. In Tanzania, north from Nyangaui and Kibwezi, into southwestern Kenya as far as Sotik. The subspecies can also be found in eastern Kenya and east of the Great Rift Valley, into southernmost Ethiopia.

The Grant’s Zebra is vertically striped in front, horizontally on the back legs, and diagonally on the rump and hind flanks. Shadow stripes are generally absent. Northerly specimens may lack a mane.

Grant’s Zebras eat the coarse grasses that grow on the African plains, and they are resistant to diseases that often kill cattle. Therefore, the zebras do well in the African savannas.

They mature to a size of around 3.9 to 4.6 feet (120 to 140cm) tall, and generally reach a max weight of about 660 lbs (300 kilograms). The Grant’s Zebra live in family groups of up to 17 or 18 individuals, and they are led by a single stallion. They live an average of 20 years.

Recent civil wars in its native area have caused dramatic declines in the Zebra’s wild population. However, they are still classified as “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List.