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Do you remember Santos, Cincinnati Zoo's little Ocelot kitten? Since we last saw him in November, he has grown up from a tiny ball of fuzz into a healthy and playful young hunter. Here he is having a great time with his canine playmate, Blakely. 

Photo credit: Cassandre Crawford / Cincinnati Zoo

See more playtime photos after the fold.

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On December 13, keepers at Marwell Zoo in the UK discovered that Wendy the Pygmy Hippo had given birth! The calf is a healthy female who certainly lives up to the 'pygmy' name, weighing in at just 13 pounds (6 kg) and standing just 6 inches (15 cm) tall at birth. After a public vote, the calf has been named Gloria.

Born to 18-year-old Wendy and Dad, Nato, who stayed at Marwell Zoo over the summer, Gloria is an important addition to the European Endangered Breeding Programme (EEP).

Team Leader for Small Mammals Kevin Saunders says, “We think 'Gloria' really suits our new arrival. We wanted something that will fit well with her mum’s name ‘Wendy’ and we think they are great together!

“Gloria has now had a swim with Mum and we are very happy with how it went. Keepers will always stand by to make sure she doesn’t get into trouble, but Wendy is very experienced and keeps a close eye on her at all times.”

Photo credit: Marwell Zoo / Tony Gardner (1)

Gloria explores her enclosure with mom:

Gloria goes for her first swim:

In the wild Pygmy Hippos are elusive animals, living in the swamps of western Africa. Pygmy Hippos, and their larger cousins, the Common Hippopotamus, play an important part in maintaining the ecosystems of the African wetlands and the surrounding grasslands and forests.

According to the zoo, ongoing deforestation in their natural habitat, combined with civil unrest, are significant threats to Pygmy Hippos. Their numbers have steadily declined and the species is now listed as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List. It is estimated that the population is likely to continue to decline by 20% over the course of the next 20 years.

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Toronto Zoo's Polar Bear cub is growing up strong and healthy! Born on November 9 to a resident mom, Aurora, the cub was one of three born in the litter. Despite Aurora showing perfect maternal instincts, including nursing the cubs shortly after their birth, the zoo was saddened to discover that two of the three cubs did not survive the first 48 hours. They made the decision to hand raise and carefully monitor the third cub so he would have to best chance of survival. (See our previous update here.)

Since then, the male cub has recovered from low weight and made many developmental milestones. His eyes have been fully open since day 35 and he's already taken his first steps. He is quite active and starting to play. 

The cub now weighs about 9.7 pounds (4 kg), which is a is a 529% increase since his original birth weight.  Although he receives milk from a bottle six times a day, he has recently started to learn how to lap milk from a dish, a transition that eventually will help him learn to eat solid foods.

Photo credit: Toronto Zoo

Watch the cub's first steps:

Watch a bottle-feeding:

Happy bear sounds!

The little cub is beginning to teethe and he likes to bite objects such as his blanket. His canine teeth, incisors and some of his molars can now be felt. He has a few whiskers and his coat is becoming thicker as he continues to grow.

He still remains in a temperature-controlled environment within the Wildlife Health Centre but has been out of his incubator for the past month.  The temperature in his room has been gradually reduced. In fact, an air conditioner has been installed for his comfort. He is a Polar Bear, after all!

See and read more after the fold.

The team, consisting of dedicated veterinary and wildlife care staff experts, continues the process of monitoring his temperature, taking blood samples, weighing him and feeding him a special formula to help build up his strength.

"Our Wildlife Care Team has been working around the clock to look after this special cub. We are very happy with his progress so far. We hope that he will grow up to become another ambassador for his species, highlighting threats to the arctic environment," says Dr. Graham Crawshaw, Senior Veterinarian.  

Toronto Zoo is involved in collaborative research projects involving multiple accredited zoos and organizations to help better understand Polar Bear reproductive biology, and provide valuable information to support Polar Bear education, research and conservation efforts in the wild.  

"With our ongoing research to help save Polar Bears, one of our main missions is to bring awareness of the plight of Polar Bears in the wild. The Toronto Zoo's Tundra Trek area focuses on climate change and its effects on species conservation within this region", says Maria Franke, curator of mammals. "When he is ready, our new cub will join our other Polar Bears in the Tundra Trek and help spread the word on what you can do to make a difference and help save these magnificent creatures," she added. 

The Toronto Zoo has more information, photos and videos of the cub here. 

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Reid Park Zoo’s first baby of the year is a very special little one:  a Baird’s Tapir that was rejected by his mother and is now under the care of zoo keepers.

Photo Credit:  Reid Park Zoo 

After a 13-month gestation, female Tapir Contessa delivered the male calf on January 4.  While both mom and calf are healthy, Contessa did not nurse her calf and became aggressive toward him, prompting keepers to remove the baby for hand-rearing.

Zoo officials stress that hand-rearing baby animals is very rare at the zoo, but this calf’s importance to captive breeding efforts made him an exception.  

The Reid Park Zoo participates in the Baird’s Tapir Species Survival Plan®, a managed breeding program designed to maintain a healthy, genetically diverse, and demographically stable group of animals.

Baird’s Tapirs are nocturnal creatures native to Mexico and Central America. Their flexible snouts are used to grab vegetation.  Baird’s Tapirs are endangered, due primarily to deforestation and illegal hunting.

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Pongo the Orangutan just turned one year old just a few days ago, on January 10. He was born by Caesarian section at Zoo Atlanta and raised by a team of zoo keepers, volunteers and veterinarians while Blaze, the mother, recovered.

A first-time mom, Blaze fully recovered from the surgery but wasn't quite ready to take on the role of motherhood. Caregivers began a careful series of introductions, allowing mother and baby to see each other across a barrier (for safety). In the first two photos, Pongo is watching mom at an introdution session. 

(We're doing a bit of a recap here, but see our previous stories on the birth and early reintroductions for even more photos!) 

After two months of introductions, Blaze finally reached a curious hand out toward the little baby. 

Reintroduction efforts continued daily. Pongo was taken to the orangutan building each morning for intros with Blaze, and each evening returned to a nursery to receive round-the-clock care and feeding from staff and volunteer caregivers. Meanwhile, he was growing steadily, gaining strength, and learning how to climb!

Photo credits: Zoo Atlanta / Adam K. Thompson (1-3, 11, 13, 15);  Primate Team (4, 7, 11); Laura Mayo (5); Lynn Yakubinis (6, 8); Kate Leach (9, 10, 12); Max Block (14)

See and read more after the fold!

In a stroke of amazing keeper ingenuity, the team provided Pongo, who had not gotten the hang of nursing, with a life-sized toy orangutan. The team has made a small hole in the plush and have pushed his bottle through in an attempt to help him learn how to nurse when he's with Mom. It worked!

Throughout the hand-raising process, caretakers tried to make the experience as natural for the baby as possible, even using fuzzy orange blankets to simular a mother's hair. 

Finally in March, something clicked, and Blaze accepted her baby. 

Pongo and Blaze were fully reuinted, but not ready to go outside yet, so plenty of fun was provided indoors. They loved to play with big sheets of paper!

Finally the mother and baby were ready to move to their outdoor habitat. Pongo continued nursing from mom, but got supplemental feedings from human caregivers too, to manke sure he was getting all the nutrition he needed. The two are happy and well-adjusted, with lots of room to play outside. Now that he's back with mom, Pongo is learningeverything he needs to know about being an Orangutan. 

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