Ratu, a rare Sumatran rhino, is pregnant!

In February 2010, we posted about Ratu, a rare Sumatran rhino, being pregnant. Unfortunately, she miscarried after two months. However, the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Indonesia has announced that Ratu is pregnant again! Currently, she is in her eleventh month of gestation. Her pregnancy will most likely last another four or five months.

To help prevent Ratu from miscarrying again, sanctuary staff give her a hormone supplement daily. Within the sanctuary, she is free to roam and graze in a large forested area with natural plants and mud, just as she would in the wild.

Ratu was originally a wild rhino. She was taken into the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, which offers 250 acres of protected land, after coming in contact with villagers nearby. Andalas, who mated with Ratu last year to produce this recent pregnancy, was a captively-bred rhino from the Cincinnati Zoo.

Sumatran rhinos are in grave danger of becoming extinct. According to the International Rhino Foundation:

The Sumatran rhino is one of the world’s most critically endangered species, numbering no more than 200 individuals in Indonesia and Malaysia. The species is seriously threatened by the continuing loss of its tropical forest habitat and hunting pressure from poachers, who kill rhinos for their valuable horns. Every Sumatran rhino birth – in the wild, in a zoo or in a special sanctuary – represents hope for the survival of this species, which runs the risk of going extinct by the end of this century.

Learn more at the International Rhino Foundation website.

Busch Gardens welcomed a new female giraffe to their herd.

Slurp! The newborn giraffe gets a nice cleaning by her mother.

Just a newborn, the female giraffe measures 6 feet 2 inches tall!

To learn more about giraffes, see Animal Fact Guide’s article: Giraffe.

Anne-Marie Verbruggen places a contact lens in the left eye of Win Thida, a 44-year-old Asian elephant at the Artis Zoo in Amsterdam. Photo by Artis Zoo.

Did you know that contact lenses are not just for people?  At the Artis Zoo in Amsterdam, Netherlands, veterinarian Anne-Marie Verbruggen fitted an Asian elephant with a special contact lens.  The 44-year-old elephant, named Win Thida, suffered from a scratched cornea after fighting with another elephant.  The contact lens will protect the eye while it heals.

This was the first time Verbruggen fitted an elephant with a contact lens, however, she has had experience giving horses contact lenses.  With the elephant, the challenge was with the massive size and weight of the animal.  According to Verbruggen, “Elephants can’t lie down for long before their immense weight impairs their breathing, so I used a ladder to get close enough. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked. She seemed happier straight away.”

For more information, see Spiegel Online.

In the wee hours of New Year’s Day, the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa welcomed a new baby Malayan tapir.  The female calf is healthy, weighing about 15 pounds (and gaining).

Baby tapirs have a spotted pattern to help camouflage them from predators. Eventually, the baby’s spotted coat will fade to a solid black and white pattern. In the wild, Malayan tapirs are endangered, inhabiting the rainforests of Southeast Asia.  Their population is threatened by human activity like deforestation and illegal trade.

For more information, see:
WTSP.com
Lowry Park Zoo Facebook page

Baldest Baby: This baby aardvark was born at Busch Gardens Tampa on April 10, 2011. He was hand-reared by zookeepers because his mother was neglecting him.

Oldest Mother: Five Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoise hatchlings were born on November 15  to a century-old tortoise in a South Carolina zoo after she hid the eggs from zookeepers for months.

Best Gremlin Impersonator: The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore welcomed a male baby Coquerel’s sifaka on November 12 and named him Nero. Sifakas are a kind of lemur who move by leaping through trees or side-hopping on the ground.

Roundest Face: A pair of red pandas were born at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, MA on July 4. In the wild, red pandas inhabit bamboo forests in China, the Himalyas, and Myanmar.

Unlikely Friends: An 8-week-old cheetah (born in February) was paired with a 16-week-old yellow lab at Busch Gardens Tampa. The two adolescents became great pals.

Most Smiley: A dolphin calf was born on July 26th at SeaWorld Orlando. Here he is bonding with his mother.

Whitest Kiwi: Two rare all-white kiwis were born this year at Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Center in New Zealand.  Manukura was born in May and was the first of its kind born in captivity.  Mauriora was born in December. The two white kiwis are North Island brown kiwis who carry a rare white gene. They are not albinos.

Hope you enjoyed our roundup of amazing animal babies of 2011. Happy New Year!

This snub-nosed monkey with an Elvis hairstyle is one of over 200 new species discovered in the Greater Mekong region. © Martin Aveling/Fauna and Flora International

In the Greater Mekong region of Asia, which covers Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, scientists have recently discovered over 200 new species. The list includes 145 plants, 28 reptiles, 25 fish, 7 amphibians, 2 mammals, and 1 bird.

One interesting find is the snub-nosed monkey, which has to keep its head between its knees when it rains so water doesn’t get into its nose. Another noteworthy discovery is a self-cloning lizard, which is an all-female species.

For more information and a photo slideshow of more of these fascinating species, see:

The Telegraph
World Wildlife Fund

The babies are currently small enough to fit into the palm of your hand. But Galapagos tortoises can reach 400 kg (880 lb.) in their long lifetime.

Galapagos tortoises are the largest species of tortoise. In the wild, they inhabit the Galapagos Islands, which are located 1,000 km (620 mi) west of Ecuador. They are considered vulnerable of extinction by the IUCN Redlist.

To learn more, see:
The State
Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens

A baby Grevy’s zebra was born at Busch Gardens Tampa on November 4. Within an hour of her birth, the little zebra was running with the rest of the herd.

Although the first steps can be a little shaky, it only takes 3-5 days for sable antelope babies to be able to run as fast as the herd.

Busch Gardens Tampa welcomed another new addition: a baby Cape buffalo! Cape buffaloes are extremely social; members of the same group will stay in direct contact with each other and will often sleep with their heads resting on one another.

At birth, this baby Cape buffalo weighed 45 pounds. Full-grown Cape buffaloes can weigh up to 2000 pounds!

Photos and video by Matt Marriott/Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.