#zoo babies

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

Very, very fresh bison calf.

Months and months ago I promised y'all photos of the bison birth I was lucky enough to observe at the Cleveland Zoo last spring. As requested, they'll be under a cut, because unlike this lovely photo from the zoo announcement post, my photos are... goopy.

His name is Tighee, a name which the zoo said is "the name of a Shoshone chief."

We walked up just as things started to get going, and the story is below the cut...

This is Blue, a female bison who arrived at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in fall of 2022 already pregnant. When we got to the habitat, there were a ton of people gathered around, and it wasn't quite clear what was going on.

Then we noticed her full udder and the extra pair of feet.

She was dead-center in the (pretty large) habitat, which was nice - though there was a crowd, she had some good distance from everyone for most of it. The calf came pretty quickly, all things considered (something especially helpful when you're holding a heavy camera up on full manual zoom without a tripod). Because she was at a distance, my friend and I spent a bunch of time showing people near us photos on my camera screen so they could get a good view.

I was honestly really surprised at the number of people who asked why the zoo staff weren't in there with her, helping her give birth. So we explained to folk that zoo staff don't normally go in with bison on a normal day because they're so big and dangerous, and that during a birth (a time of potential stress for the whole herd, the rest of whom were off to the side of that habitat) it would be especially risky to do so. But you could see people in the zoo's uniform colors clustered around the fence, keeping a close eye on her.

And then there was a calf! For folk who haven't seen what a whole amniotic sac looks like, I'm including the next couple photos.

This one is still mid-birth, as you can see. The hooves come out first, with the calf's head laying parallel to them.

Blue immediately moves to break the amniotic sac and clear the calf's airways of mucus. Om nom nom.

We have open eyes and an awake baby! The amniotic sac is full of fluid that helps protect the baby while it's in the uterus, which means once it's broken, the baby is goopy. One of mom's first jobs is to lick all of it away to dry the calf off.

A first attempt at using legs!

Nope, being born was too hard and legs don't work yet. Time to rest and recover from the effort of thinking about standing up.

The first inquisitive member of the herd, another young female, comes to check out the newest addition.

More attempts at legs! Getting better but still not coordinated enough yet.

They're starting to help the baby stand up. In a non-captive setting it would be important for him to be able to walk pretty quickly after being born, and he has to stand up to be able to nurse!

Everyone comes to check him out, now.

We have legs! They work! He hadn't quite figured out where to nurse from yet, though.

And that's your bison birth for the day!

[jadeseadragon]

Snow Leopard Cub

[dwmmphotography]

Some San Diego Zoo babies from early April 2023.

7-week old Amur leopard.

~4 month old Andean bear with mom

4 day old wattled jacana.

[qwilman]

EVERYONE SHOULD READ OCTOPUS PIE (occasionally nsfw but it’s usually just like some boobs in a shower or something)

[yanchagraffiti]

1989 Zoo Babies flyer

[thedisablednaturalist]

Im fucking sobbing looking at the new black footed cat at Utah's Hogle zoo

Shes just a fucking baby

Baby with a 60% successful kill rate

[bumblingest-bee]

jurassic park has a good philosophical message but unfortunately the only thing i ever take away from watching jurassic park is "god i wish i could go to jurassic park." like yeah it's a blatantly obvious don't create the torment nexus scenario, but this torment nexus has DINOSAURS.

[heartwarminganimals]

Syrup the tiger and her two cubs Earl and Gray at the Izu Animal Kingdom in Japan.

[shutterandsentence]

Hi, baby!

Photo: San Diego Zoo, California

[madeleineengland]

A baby Pallas cat was born in the Helsinki Zoo, look at this tiny baby who bleps!

The Korkeasaari Zoo celebrated the birth of its first pallas cat and they gave the news on 10 august 2023 but the kitten in the photo is already 2 months old and she is healthy.

While the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categorizes the Pallas cat as a species of "least concern," their numbers in the wild have been declining. These cats inhabit the vast and harsh grasslands and mountain steppes of Central Asia. Manuls are part of European zoos' conservation programs aimed at safeguarding their future. Korkeasaari Zoo contributes to the protection of wild manuls during this year's "Night of the Cats."

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

New weird horse just dropped, folks.

A spotless giraffe was recently born at Bright’s Zoo in Limestone, TN and was just announced in the media this morning. They’re starting a public naming contest for her, of course.

I’d love to know what type of mutation causes this lack of of pattern, but I don’t know if we have genetics on that for giraffes the way we do other species. As far as is known, she’s the first spotless giraffe ever documented!

[jadeseadragon]

@animalsonland

[culverton]

never beating the baby animal allegations

[julianhuxley]

Two scientists admit to grabbing a wild baby seal by the hind flippers, causing it to burst into tears. Immediately feeling guilty, they let it go and it wandered back to its mother in the surf.

Source: Zoo Magazine, 1936.

[beardedmrbean]

THREE capybara pups have been born to new mum, Coconut! 🥥

chester zoo