The youngest offspring at Zoo Vienna is hard to miss. On July 17, a female fur seal was born. When it's hungry, it loudly draws attention to itself to get its mother's care. "In the first few days, the mother and the young seal were in the backstage area, but now they can be seen by the visitors in a specially designed shallow water area. The little one is already making its first attempts at swimming. The mother is very experienced and takes good care of her offspring," says Simone Haderthauer, the zoological curator. Fur seals can swim and dive from birth, but practice makes perfect! Once the young seal is confident both on land and in water, she will join the rest of the group.

Photo Credits: Daniel Zupanc

On Wednesday, there was once again new offspring among the Zoo Vienna reticulated giraffes. One and a half years after the last breeding success, a giraffe cow has now given birth to her second calf. "Giraffes give birth while standing. The young animal is born with its front legs first," says Simone Haderthauer, head of the zoological department. Shortly after birth, the young animal was able to stand on its own and take its first steps. This ability is necessary in the wild in order to flee as quickly as possible from predators such as lions or spotted hyenas. Reticulated giraffes live in the savannas of Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya.

Not only are we happy about the spring-like temperatures, but also the orangutans at Zoo Vienna. When the weather is sunny, the apes can immediately conquer their outdoor enclosure again. Two years ago it was completely redesigned and transformed into a climbing paradise with additional trees, ropes and nests as resting places. The nine-month-old cub is still curiously discovering everything from the back of its mother. "Everything is new, our orangutan girl is still careful. In the indoor area, the little one is already climbing around on her own. In a few weeks she will also dare to do this in the outdoor enclosure," says district manager Sandra Keiblinger. Young orangutans can only keep up with adults when they are two to three years old.

The calls of the Mission golden-eyed tree frog are among the loudest of all frogs. They always take place three times in a row and the noise level is comparable to that of a car horn. In 2021, new individuals came from Zurich Zoo to Zoo Vienna. Now, after a break of a few years, there are offspring of these “riot frogs” once again at the Zoo.

“Mission golden-eyed tree frog is particularly exciting because it lives in the treetops of tropical rainforests in the Amazon region. It uses water-filled tree cavities at a height of up to 30 meters to lay its eggs. The people there hardly ever see him, they only know him from his loud calls. The males have two extraordinarily large acoustic sacs,” explains Anton Weissenbacher, Head of the Zoological Department.

They weigh only around 10 grams and are the size of a ping pong ball! In the desert house in front of the gates of Zoo Vienna, there are offspring among the short-eared elephant shrews. The twins were discovered on the first weekend in February. However, the mother had kept them hidden in the nests in the thickets of plants for a few days. According to animal keeper Kristina Stanschitz, anyone who wants to see the tiny creatures should hurry up. “Adolescence in elephant shrews goes by very quickly. The young animals are suckled, but also eat solid food such as insects, grains and fruit almost from the start. At the age of four weeks they are already as big as their parents. In two to three weeks they will become sexually mature and move to a backstage facility.”

Like their adult animal companions, baby animals at Schönbrunn Zoo act as ambassadors for their fellow animals in the wild. This is because the greatest and saddest commonality remains the threat of habitat loss and extinction by humans.

"Conservation breeding is a central task of modern, scientifically managed zoos and aquariums in order to secure the existence of endangered animal species through reserve populations," says zoo director Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck.

In the 270th anniversary year, the Schönbrunn Zoo was able to look forward to numerous special offspring. In addition to the arctic wolves, the capybaras and the zebras, the king and rockhopper penguins and the maned seals also provided for offspring. Even the extremely rare Mhorr gazelle, which is threatened with extinction, had two young in 2022. “Two more squirrel monkeys were born in the last few weeks – so they are our latest offspring. Our breeding highlights of the year are certainly the young orangutans, giraffes and now, once again, the koalas," says zoo director Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck.

There are offspring among the king penguins again this year. A chick hatched in Schönbrunn Zoo at the end of July. So far, the young animal has cleverly hidden between the protective parents, but now it is easy for visitors to see in the polarium. “However, the penguin chick cannot swim yet. King penguins don't get water-repellent plumage until they are about 10 months old. Until then, they wear a warm, brown dune dress. The sex of the chick is only determined at a later point in time by genetic testing of feather samples,” reports animal keeper Bettina Schragner.

For the third time in a row, Schönbrunn Zoo can look forward to two offspring of white-nosed coatis this year. In mid-May, the two cubs were born blind and deaf and were nursed and cared for by their mother in the nest for the first few weeks. “Meanwhile, the approximately six-week-old twins, a male and a female, have left their safe nest and are out and about throughout the indoor facility. The two currently spend most of the day sleeping snuggled up to their mother," reports animal keeper Michaela Hoffmann.

The female orangutan born on June 19th at Schönbrunn Zoo has been named “Kendari”. After internal considerations, they finally decided together on the name of an Indonesian city. Indonesia is the original home of the orangutans, where these special animals have now been almost wiped out due to deforestation and illegal trade. “We are very happy that the young animal is developing so well and that we have found a name. Kendari is getting bigger and stronger every day. She is already raising her head and slowly starting to perceive her surroundings with wide eyes. Everything is always in the protective arms of mother animal Sari”, says animal keeper Sandra Keiblinger.