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Baby Jaguar at Florida Zoo

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Baby jaguar at Brevard Zoo

Baby jaguar at the Brevard Zoo. © Brevard Zoo

The Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, Florida welcomed a baby jaguar on January 26. The cub, whose gender is still unknown, is bonding well with mother Masaya.  Zoo visitors will be able to see the cub in a few months.

In the wild, jaguars inhabit the dense forests and swampy grasslands of Central and South America. They hunt deer, monkeys, tapirs, capybara, turtles and fish. Due to habitat loss and fragmentation, jaguars are considered near threatened by the IUCN Red List.

Featured Animal: Narwhal

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Meet our featured animal, the narwhal!

Narwhal

Here are five facts about narwhals:

  • The horn on a narwhal is actually a giant, spiraled tooth.
  • The long tooth can reach up to 3 m (10 ft.) in length and grows continually to replace wear.
  • The name narwhal derives from the old Norse word nar meaning corpse.
  • Narwhals travel in groups (or pods) of 15-20 whales.
  • Preying on creatures primarily on the bottom of the sea, they dive on average 800 m (.5 mi.), but can go twice that.

Learn more about narwhals >

African Penguin Gets Custom Wetsuit

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Penguin in wetsuit

Photo by Abigail Pheiffer

At the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, CT, a 14-year-old penguin named Yellow Pink molted his waterproof feathers last year. They never grew back. Without the waterproof feathers, swimming became uncomfortable for the penguin.

Fortunately, a team of veterinarians, trainers, and research staff made him a custom neoprene wetsuit out of an old aquarium diving suit. Now Yellow Pink can stay warm as as swims.

Watch a video of Yellow Pink swimming in his suit below:

For more information about Yellow Pink, visit the Mystic Aquarium website or find them on Facebook.

Learn more about African penguins on our African Penguin Facts Page.

Giant Squid Video

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Now for the first time you can see footage of the giant squid living in its natural habitat.  Giant squid are longer than school buses (40 feet long!) and weigh nearly a ton. Their eyes are the size of dinner plates. They live in the deep waters of the Pacific Ocean. A few years ago, a team of Japanese scientists took still photos of the elusive creature. After hundreds of deep sea dives in a submersible, scientists finally captured the giant squid on video.

Watch a special on the giant squid, Monster Squid: The Giant is Real, on the Discovery Channel on Sunday, January 27 at 8pm EST. For more info, see discovery.com/giantsquid.

Featured Animal: Tasmanian Devil

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Meet our featured animal, the Tasmanian devil!

Tasmanian devil

Here are five facts about Tasmanian devils:

  • Tasmanian devils inhabit the island state of Tasmania, although they once lived throughout Australia.
  • The Tasmanian devil is the size of a small dog.
  • Tasmanian devils are not picky eaters. They eat carrion (dead animals), including rotten flesh, fur, and bones!
  • Female Tasmanian devils give birth to up to 50 babies (joeys).
  • Tasmanian devils are considered endangered. Threats include being hit by cars and Devil Facial Tumour Disease.

Learn more >

Exploring Panda Bear Cuteness

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Prompted by the public debut of Xiao Liwu at the San Diego Zoo, NPR’s The Two-Way discussed why we find panda bears utterly adorable.

For example, why do we find pandas so cute…

…while eating bamboo?

…while eating leaves?

…while hanging on a fence?

…while sleeping on a branch?

…while sleeping on some logs?

…while sleeping on a rock?

…or while just plain sleeping?

The reason according to NPR is that their big eyes, button noses, round faces, and clumsy yet cuddly bodies invoke parenting instincts in humans.

Read more about various panda bear cuteness research at NPR’s The Two-Way.

Learn more about pandas in Animal Fact Guide’s article, Giant Panda.

Tiger Diaries: Sumatran Tigers at the National Zoo

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Two Sumatran tigers

Kavi and Damai are the National Zoo’s resident Sumatran tigers.

Will Kavi and Damai hit it off? Will we see babies in the near future? The Tiger Diaries takes you behind the scenes at the National Zoo, following the lives of their resident Sumatran tigers, Kavi and Damai.

In the wild, Sumatran tigers are found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Only 400 Sumatran tigers exist today. The National Zoo’s program to breed Sumatran tigers plays a major role in preserving this rare species.

Learn more at the National Zoo website.

Amazing Animal Camouflage Photos

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Photographer Art Wolfe spent 35 years on every continent photographing animals in their natural habitat.  His book Vanishing Act showcases how well animals can escape the eye and blend into the background.

Here are a few examples:


Can you spot the cryptic grasshopper on the leaf?
 


Can you spot the leafy seadragon amidst the coral?
 


Can you spot the yellow-bellied marmot among the rocks?
 


Can you spot the giraffe amidst the trees?
 


Can you spot the blue-crowned parrot among the leaves?
 


Can you spot the American pika among the rocks?
 


Can you spot the two klipspringers (African antelope) among the rocks?
 


Can you spot the leopard among the grass?

To learn more and view more photographs, see:

Art Wolfe’s blog
The Daily Mail

Baby Dolphin at SeaWorld’s Discovery Cove

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Dolphin calf and mother

A female Atlantic bottlenose dolphin calf bonds with her mother at Discovery Cove in Florida.

A female Atlantic bottlenose dolphin calf was born at Discovery Cove in Orlando, Florida on November 30. The baby weighed 35 pounds and measured 3.5 feet long.

This birth is notable because scientists were able to pre-select the dolphin’s gender using a new technology called “sperm-sexing” where X chromosomes (which produce female offspring) are separated from Y chromosomes (which produce male offspring). This advancement allows scientists to preserve genetic diversity in dolphins.

According to SeaWorld, the new baby is doing well, continuing to develop and bonding with her mother.

For more info, visit SeaWorld’s website.

To learn more about bottlenose dolphins, see our Bottlenose Dolphin Facts Page.