The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore recently welcomed a Sitatunga calf to its growing herd. The female calf was born on June 4 to first-time parents, Jess and Jabari.

“She is a healthy eight-pound calf,” stated Erin Cantwell, mammal collection and conservation manager at the Zoo. “This is Jess’ first baby, and she is a very attentive mom. The calf is tiny, but she’s doing quite well.”

Photo Credits: Maryland Zoo

The Sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekii) is a species of antelope native to Central Africa. They live in swamps, marshes and flood plains. Outside of protected areas, Sitatunga are vulnerable to over-hunting and habitat loss, as people drain and develop swampland. Currently, Sitatunga are not classified as threatened or endangered.

The Maryland Zoo’s Sitatunga herd is made up of 12 animals, including the new calf, and can be found in two exhibit spaces along the boardwalk in the African Journey section of the Zoo.

“Right now, Jess and her calf are bonding behind-the-scenes," said Cantwell. “Based on their health and the weather, we anticipate it will be a couple of weeks before they will be in the Sitatunga Yard making their public debut.”

The calf’s birth was the result of a recommendation from the Sitatunga Species Survival Plan (SSP) coordinated by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). SSPs provide breeding recommendations to maximize genetic diversity, with the goal of ensuring health of the individual animal, as well as the long-term survival of the species population to help save animals from extinction.

Keepers at Paradise Park, in the UK, are excited about their first successful breeding of the Brazilian Tanager species.

Director, Alison Hales, remarked, “Our pair arrived from Newquay Zoo last year and settled well into one of the South Aviaries. These aviaries are in full sun which the birds like, but there is also a dense, leafy shrub in there and that is where they chose to make their nest.”

“They share their aviary with a pair of Luzon Bleeding-heart Doves, which works out well as these are ground doves so the species don’t interfere with each other.”

“The adults are very attentive, and particularly love to pick out the wax worms we feed them to pass on to their chick. I’m sure this little family will continue to thrive.”

Photo Credits: Paradisde Park

The Brazilian Tanager (Ramphocelus bresilius) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. They are native to lowland coastal forests of Brazil, and can also be found on the outskirts of cities.

Tanagers are quite territorial, living in pairs or small groups consisting of parents and their offspring. Fruit makes up a large part of their diet, along with insects. As well as a bowl of food in their hut, the keepers at Paradise Park have a ‘peg board’ at the back of the aviary where they can spike fruit for the birds to eat.

Since 2013, the Tennessee Aquarium has partnered with several organizations to propagate wild Southern Appalachian Brook Trout in an effort to help this beautiful fish reclaim some of its lost territories. On June 5, participants in this program celebrated the release of 280 juvenile trout into the chilly waters of Little Stony Creek in the Cherokee National Forest near Elizabethton, Tennessee.

“They don’t want to be in the really swift water,” says Meredith Harris, a reintroduction biologist at the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute. “We want to give them the best chance of staying put, spreading out in the creek and finding good food and the resources they need to thrive.”

Photo Credits: Casey Phillips/Tennessee Aquarium

For more than 130 years, the Southern Appalachian Brook Trout has constantly struggled to survive an ever-mounting combination of mostly human-induced threats. As a result, Tennessee’s only native trout species now occupies less than 15 percent of its historic range.

The Brook Trout’s range extends north into New England and Canada and westward into the Midwest, but the population in Southern Appalachian is genetically distinct. The restoration project aims to safeguard and preserve this unique community as an important component of the region’s natural heritage, says Marcia Carter, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Forest Service.

“I think it’s the prettiest trout that we have,” Carter says. “Brook Trout are the only native trout species in Tennessee, so it’s important for us to maintain good populations to ensure their viability and also to provide recreational fishing for the public.”

The restoration program features the combined effort and resources of the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute, U.S. Forest Service, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the Appalachian Chapter of Trout Unlimited. In the five years since the program’s inception, the Conservation Institute has hatched and released more than 1,400 of these distinctively olive-bodied, red-finned fish and pioneered new techniques for raising them.

“Working with the Tennessee Aquarium has been awesome since they provide facilities to raise the trout, so we can have even more fish to stock and have a faster restoration time,” Carter says. “Getting to work here with our partners doing Brook Trout restoration is just a happy day for me.”

Back in April, an egg barely the size of a ping-pong ball arrived at the Woodland Park Zoo from the Sacramento Zoo, where its parents were not able to incubate it.

On April 17, a feisty little Burrowing Owl chick pipped its way out of that egg. The chick, a male, was named Papú. His name, which is pronounced like paw-POO, with emphasis on the second syllable, means “Burrowing Owl” in the dialect of the Yakama tribes of eastern Washington. Little Papú, who also goes by the nickname Pippin, was at hatching barely a few inches long, covered in white downy plumage, and his eyes were not open yet.

Because Papú will be reared by his keepers, it was decided that he will become an ambassador animal at the Woodland Park Zoo. In this very important role, Papú will meet zoo guests to help build a strong connection between people and wildlife. Right away, Papú captured the hearts of the animal keepers who will feed him, raise him, train with him throughout his life, and generally just let him become his best little Owl-self.

Papú is now nearly two months old and already adult-size, although he still has some of the downy plumage of a chick. Most baby birds are the same size as their parents by the time they’re ready to leave the nest—and Papú is just at that age. Adult feathers, which are mottled brown and white, are already starting to grow in, including those all-important flight feathers.

At this point, his flights are limited to practice take-offs and soft, but not always graceful, landings on his keepers’ laps or the ground. Within another week or so, he will probably take his first real flight, and by early autumn Papú will have his adult plumage and his eyes and beak will start turning yellow.

Burrowing Owls are small, long-legged Owls found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. These tiny predators—they’re only 8 to 11 inches tall and weigh between 5 to 8 ounces when fully grown—can be found in grasslands, rangelands and throughout the Great Plains.

They nest and roost in underground burrows that might have been dug out by prairie dogs or ground squirrels, although they can create their own burrows if needed. Unlike most Owls, Burrowing Owls are active day or night hunting for beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, mice and small lizards. The Burrowing Owl is endangered in Canada and threatened in Mexico. Although still common in much of the U.S., its population numbers are in decline and they are listed as threatened in several states due to the eradication of prairie dogs and loss of habitat.

See more photos below, including several of Papú right after he hatched.

Zookeepers at Chester Zoo have revealed the name of a rare baby Rhino born on May 3.

Meet Akeno, the Greater One-horned Rhinoceros calf – only the second of his kind to ever be born at the zoo. The name Akeno is of Asian origin, meaning “beautiful sunrise.”


Photo Credit: Chester Zoo

Although he is just six weeks old, Akeno has bundles of energy and is proving to be a real handful for his 11-year-old mother, Asha.

Greater One-horned Rhinos can weigh up to 2.4 tons as adults, but despite their bulky size, they can run at speeds of up to 25 mph.

Also known as Indian Rhinos, Greater One-horned Rhinos live in northeastern India and southern Nepal. Like all Rhinos, they feed on grasses and other vegetation. And, like Rhinos in Africa and other parts of Asia, Greater One-horned Rhinos are illegally hunted for their horns, which are mistakenly believed to have medicinal properties in some cultures. In reality, Rhino horns are made of keratin, the same substance that makes up human hair and fingernails.

Due to overhunting and habitat loss, only about 200 Greater One-horned Rhinos remained in the wild by the middle of the 20th century. Steps to protect the Rhinos were taken just in time and today, about 3,500 live in the wild. They are currently listed as Vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

See more pictures of Akeno below.

An endangered Przewalski’s Horse foal has been born at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo!

Once classified as extinct in the wild, the Przewalski’s Horse is a rare species of wild horse. Thanks to conservation breeding efforts by organisations, such as the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the species has been reintroduced to its native habitat in Mongolia.

Photo Credits: Zoological Society of London (ZSL)

The Przewalski's Horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) is the last true wild horse. They are the only living, wild ancestor of the domestic horse that has survived to the present day.

They are named after Nikolai Przewalski, the Russian explorer who first brought specimens back for a formal description in the 1870s. But the first time the species was made known to the West was in the 1763 published accounts of a Scottish doctor, John Bell, who travelled with Tsar Peter the Great.

This wild horse has a stocky body with robust, short legs, a short neck and an erect mane. Typical height of the species is about 12–14 hands (48–56 inches, 122–142 cm), and their length is about 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in). On average, they weigh around 300 kilograms (660 lb).

The hooves of the Przewalski's Horse are longer in the back and have a thick sole horn. This characteristic improves the performance of the hooves.

The species is currently classified as “Endangered” on the IUCN Red List. According to the IUCN: “Previously listed as Extinct in the Wild (EW) from the 1960s up to the assessment in 1996. The species was then reassessed as Critically Endangered (CR) due to at least one surviving mature individual in the wild. Successful reintroductions have qualified this species for reassessment. The population is currently estimated to consist of more than 50 mature individuals free-living in the wild for the past seven years. This taxon is threatened by small population size and restricted range, potential hybridization with domestic horses, loss of genetic diversity, and disease. As the population size is small, it is vulnerable to stochastic events such as severe weather. Equus ferus przewalskii qualifies as Endangered (EN) under Criterion D.”

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is thrilled to announce the birth of a Sumatran Orangutan on June 6. The baby is the third offspring for 30-year-old mom, Sumagu, and 27-year-old dad, Baka.

The Zoo reports that mother and baby will be in their regular exhibit in Primate World, which will be open for guests. Depending on where Sumagu decides to spend time, she and the baby may or may not be visible to guests.

Thus far, the pair is healthy and bonding well, so the Zoo’s staff has not intervened to determine the sex of the baby or any other details. The baby was clinging strongly to Sumagu within minutes after birth. According to keepers, Sumagu came over to animal and vet staff to take some fruit, and they could tell she had done a great job cleaning the baby up quickly. She then spent some time rearranging her nest after the birth. The pair has also been observed successfully nursing.

Photo Credits: Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Sumagu’s two previous offspring were both males: Makan, born in January 2003 and Godek, born in February 2009. Both of them now make their homes at other Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited zoos.

The Zoo’s last Orangutan birth was Bornean Orangutan, Ember, who is now 3 1/2 years old.

Gestation for Orangutans lasts an average of 245 days, or a little over eight months.

In the wild, Orangutan fathers do not usually participate in raising offspring, but they tend to do well in zoos where there isn’t competition for food and mates. Baka revealed great fatherly instincts with his previous two offspring. Keepers are hopeful this will be the case with this new little one, but just to be sure, he will be kept separated from mom and baby for a short time.

Sumagu and Baka’s wild Sumatran Orangutan counterparts are currently classified as “Critically Endangered” on the IUCN Red List.

Non-sustainable palm oil production is fueling destruction of the rainforest habitat of Sumatran and Bornean Orangutans, pushing those endangered species even closer to extinction. Found in cookies, crackers, frozen dinners, shampoo, lotions, cosmetics, pet food and many other products, palm oil is now the most widely produced edible oil.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is offering a way to make a difference during this crisis by choosing the products using their sustainable palm oil shopping app. The app helps consumers make responsible decisions about the food and health/beauty products purchased every day – just scan a product in the app, and it will tell you how that company is doing with using responsibly sourced palm oil for their products. To download the app, or to learn more about the palm oil crisis, visit: www.cmzoo.org/palmoil .

Meet Fred, the smallest new addition to the reptile house at Bristol Zoo Gardens.

Only the size of a grape (15mm long) and just four weeks old, he is one of two Bearded Pygmy Chameleons that hatched in their enclosure from eggs the size of Tic-Tac mints.

A further eight tiny eggs are being incubated, behind the scenes, in the Zoo’s Reptile House and are expected to hatch in the coming weeks.

Photo Credits: Bristol Zoo Gardens

This is just the second time the Zoo has bred Bearded Pygmy Chameleons.

Curator of reptiles and amphibians, Tim Skelton, said, “Bearded Pygmy Chameleons are a very popular species; they are remarkably small and only grow to around 3 inches (8cm) when fully grown.”

“Although not endangered, we can learn a lot from breeding and caring for these animals which will help us in our breeding efforts for more endangered species in future.”

The Bearded Pygmy Chameleon (Rieppeleon brevicaudatus) is named after the beard-like scales below its mouth. Its native habitat is sub-montane and lowland forest and shrub in Eastern Tanzania and South-eastern Kenya. They eat a variety of small invertebrate food including small crickets and flies.

On June 2, Belfast Zoo celebrated another conservation success when two female Red Squirrels, born at the Cave Hill site, left the zoo as part of a release programme at Silent Valley Mountain Park.

(ZooBorns shared news of the birth of the special kits in August of 2017: “Belfast Zoo Celebrates Five Kits in Red Squirrel Nook”)

Silent Valley Mountain Park was selected as the latest Red Squirrel release site, as part of a nation-wide scheme to enhance the population of this beautiful and threatened species. The site was deemed suitable due to the ongoing efforts of the Mourne Heritage Trust, Ulster Wildlife and NI Water to enhance the quality and quantity of woodland available in the area and to keep the area free of competing populations of the invasive Grey Squirrel. The Mourne Heritage Trust also had demonstrable success with the return of Red Squirrels into Mourne Park Estate, in Kilkeel, in 2014.

Photo Credits: Belfast Zoo /Jon Lees, NIEA (Image 1)

Red Squirrels are believed to have been present in Ireland for more than 10,000 years. Many people are familiar with this native species and its bright red coat, creamy white belly, bushy red tail and distinctive ear tufts. However, not everyone is aware that the Red Squirrel in Northern Ireland is in serious trouble. The population has declined dramatically due to loss of habitat and competition from the larger, invasive Grey Squirrel that carries a lethal pox virus.

Zoo manager, Alyn Cairns, said “Belfast Zoo first became home to Red Squirrels in 2012 when three animals arrived from the Glens of Antrim. The original aim of our Red Squirrel nook was predominantly education and interaction. However, the hope was that the squirrels would be content in the nook to breed and, with this in mind, release arrangements were developed by Belfast Zoo, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and the Northern Ireland Squirrel Forum (NISF). Since the arrival of our original trio, we have welcomed numerous kittens and have celebrated several successful re-introductions to protected areas in Northern Ireland.”

Alyn continued, “It is easy to look at the plight of the world’s wildlife and to feel like these problems are a world away from our own daily lives. However, the reality is that Northern Ireland’s very own species are facing increasing threats and the Red Squirrel is the perfect example of this. Here at Belfast Zoo we are committed to playing a leading role in wildlife conservation including wildlife on our own doorstep. The success of the latest release is the culmination of planning and dedication from all parties. It is extremely encouraging that, since the inception of the zoo’s squirrel nook, Belfast Zoo born squirrels have not only supported existing populations in Northern Ireland but have also been imperative in developing new habitats and populations. While this is the first release at Silent Valley we are optimistic that this will be the first of many.”

Dave Farnan, Area Ranger for the Mourne Heritage Trust, explains “The squirrels will live in a soft release pen in Silent Valley for the next few weeks, to acclimatise before being released onsite in mid-June. The two female squirrels will then be joined by two wild male squirrels, who are due to be trans located to the site, with relevant permissions from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and the Forestry Service NI. This project has been a collaborative effort of so many parties; not just Belfast Zoo and ourselves. The release pen was donated by the Woodland Trust who also donated one thousand native broad-leaved trees, to increase the woodland habitat that these squirrels call home. We have also worked closely with landowners along the Kilkeel and Annalong River who have been enthusiastic in reporting squirrel sightings and allowing Ulster Wildlife and Mourne Heritage Trust staff and volunteers to actively enhance the land for the release. We have been overwhelmed by the support we have received and I can’t wait to see Red Squirrels back in the Silent Valley.”

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is proud to announce the 200th successful Giraffe birth in the Colorado zoo’s history!

A female calf was born June 4 to a worldwide audience, as the birth was live streamed on YouTube and Facebook. The calf is the fifth offspring for 20-year-old mom, Muziki, and the fourth to be sired by dad, Khalid.

Photo Credits: Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

The calf was born at 8:20 p.m. and tried to stand up shortly after birth, which is normal for Giraffe calves. When the calf still had not been able to stand at about 10:30 p.m., the Zoo’s animal care and veterinary teams decided it was time to lend a hand. They were able to separate the calf from mom, Muziki, long enough to give it a quick veterinary check and help it to its feet. This was also when staff discovered the calf is female. The Zoo’s care team estimated her at 5’ 8” tall and approximately 120 pounds.

After the calf was observed standing and walking on her own for a few minutes, Muziki was allowed back into the birth stall. Since then, mother and baby have been bonding well and keepers report seeing the natural behaviors they would hope to see.

Because Muziki was also born at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, she has grown up in the culture of voluntary husbandry training that the Zoo is known for. This means that she voluntarily participates in her own health care, which fosters a strong trust relationship between keeper and animal.

Through this training, the Zoo was able to draw blood, confirming Muziki’s pregnancy early on. The Zoo was able to get limited ultrasound images of the calf during the pregnancy, with Muziki’s cooperation, and they were even able to bank some of Muziki’s plasma, in case the calf had need of it after the birth.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is not only a leader in the training and health of Giraffes in human care, but they are also making a huge difference in their conservation in the wild. Since January 2017, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s guests and members have contributed $97,000 through “Quarters for Conservation” contributions to help the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and its programs to save Giraffes in the wild. The Zoo has also provided staff to Uganda for several of those conservation efforts.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is home to the world’s most prolific captive Reticulated Giraffe herd, with 200 births at the Zoo since 1954. The new calf joins the Zoo’s existing herd, or tower, of 17 Giraffes, bringing the total to 18. Guests can get up close and hand-feed them on special indoor and outdoor elevated platforms anytime during the day, 365 days a year.