Thought I would start this new category as I keep seeing the most beautiful photographs of baby animals so I’ll try to make regular postings. I just can’t resist them and never tire of seeing the antics and close bond they have with their parents. Nothing like a good dose of aaaaaawh!
Miah the little koala joey safe in mother Orana’s arms at San Diego Zoo- photo by ysaleth
New elephant calf at Melbourne Zoo – photo courtesy of AFP/Getty lensman
First US born Gorilla of 2010 at Louisville Zoo. 20-year-old Western Lowland Gorilla Mia Moja gave birth to her second baby on Saturday, February 6. It is the first gorilla baby born in North America this year and the second gorilla ever born in the Zoo’s 41-year history. The first was male Azizi born to Makari on December 4, 2003, a year after Gorilla Forest opened in May of 2002. Photos courtesy of Louisville Zoo.
A lesser anteater or tamandua – was born just days ago to mom, Cypress, at Discovery Cove, in Orlando, Florida. The youngster will hitch a ride on mom’s back for the first part of his life until he’s able to walk and find food on his own. Tamanduas are native to the forests of Mexico to South America. They use their sharp claws and 16-inch-long tongue (41 cm) to eat up to 9,000 ants in a single day.
REUTERS/Vienna Zoo/Norbert Potensky/Handout
A baby gibbon sits on a swing in its enclosure in Vienna’s Schoenbrunn zoo
The Bronx Zoo has just unveiled what is sure to be a major-miniature attraction and an essential piece of conservation to boot – Kihansi Spray Toads! When Tanzania built a massive hydroelectric dam in the Kihansi Gorge, this tiny toad lost 90% of its habitat. True to their name, Kihansi Spray Toads required the mist generated by water crashing through the gorge to keep their skin moist. When the heavy water was reduced to a trickle, the spray dried up.
Photo credits: Julie Larsen Maher / WCS
Hard to believe just how tiny these frogs are!
Photo credits: Press Assocation
Rejected by its mother, this tiny Kirk’s Dik-Dik is being hand raised by keepers at England’s Chester Zoo. Standing just 10 inches tall, the baby is bottle fed five times a day and appears to be doing well. These small antelope are native to Eastern and Southwestern Africa.
Happy orangutan family, Puteri and her baby, at the Perth Zoo. Photo by Sam Finlay-Notman
Zoo Basel was the scene of high drama in late December when Spider Monkey mom, Quilimari, suffered complications during child birth. Too weak to care for her newborn, she was taken into the zoo veterinarians’ care but the prospects for her tiny baby were tenuous, as baby monkeys without natural mothers have high mortality rates.
Luckily for all, the baby’s young-adult older sister, Dicha, immediately jumped in, scooping up the baby and, surprisingly, nursing it like her own. How Dicha was able to nurse a baby immediately upon birth, while not pregnant or a recent mother herself, is a mystery.
When the mother was returned a few days later, the daughter dutifully returned her little brother to her mother’s care. Now a month later, all is well. - Heroic older sis looking concerned below -
Just had to include three photos of this story – how gorgeous are these creatures and what a heart warming story!
Original Source: http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/
