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.

Did you know you can FedEx a panda? On January 15, two pandas named Huan Huan and Yuan Zi, who were born at the famous Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, boarded a specially-chartered Boeing 777F flight known as the “FedEx Panda Express.”

During the non-stop flight to Paris, France (5,489 miles away), the pair of pandas passed the time snoozing and eating bamboo in custom-built enclosures. They were accompanied by a Chinese veterinarian and animal handler as well as the managing director from ZooParc de Beauval, their new home.

(Click image for larger PDF of the infographic.)

FedEx Express has a long history of transporting rare and delicate cargo, including other pandas, polar bears, white tigers, elephants, penguins, mountain lions, gorillas, eagles, and even a 13-foot tiger shark used in filming the movie “Jaws.”

For more information about Huan Huan and Yuan Zi’s trip, see the FedEx Blog.

To learn more about pandas, see Animal Fact Guide’s article, Giant Panda.

Two Amur (or Siberian) tiger cubs and mother Marta went on display at the Toledo Zoo in Ohio. The cubs were born on September 26, 2011.

Amur tigers are the largest subspecies of tiger, averaging  about 3.3 m (11 ft.) in length, with a tail measuring 1 m (3 ft.). Adult male tigers can weigh up to 320 kg (700 lb.), while female tigers are significantly smaller, weighing up to 180 kg (400 lb.).

To learn more about Amur tigers, see Animal Fact Guide’s article Siberian Tiger.

To learn more about the Amur tiger cubs, see NorthwestOhio.com.

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!

Cesar stands alongside Hugo with a picturesque California palm tree backdrop. Hugo, an English Bulldog, has aggressive tendencies that Cesar hope to help. (Photo by: MPH - Emery/Sumner Joint Ventures)

Nat Geo WILD has two shows all about dogs premiering on January 7th.

The Dog Whisperer follows Cesar Milan as he tries to neutralize tense situations between dogs. In the first episode (starting at 8pm ET/PT), two Jack Russell terriers named Ruby and Jinx have lived together for years but have begun fighting aggressively every time they are anywhere near each other. In the second episode (starting at 9pm ET/PT), Cesar travels to Santa Barbara to meet Hugo, a 3-year-old bulldog with a major mean streak.

Watch a clip below of Hugo the bulldog after Cesar has worked with him.

Philly Undercover is a new six-part series in which the PSPCA’s undercover police team works to eliminate dogfighting and protect all animals from abuse and neglect. In a sneak preview on January 7 at 10pm ET/PT, a covert surveillance operation with the PSPCA undercover team leads to one of the biggest dogfighting busts in Philadelphia’s history — 14 suspects are arrested, and several horribly neglected, abused and injured dogs are rescued. In the second episode on Monday, January 9 at 9pm ET/PT (the show’s regular night and time), the team rescues 41 dogs from five properties across Philadelphia.

The Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre in New Zealand welcomed a rare baby bird on Sunday.  The white kiwi chick, named Mauriora – meaning “sustained life” in Maori -  is the second of its kind to be born in captivity.  The first white kiwi born in captivity hatched in May and is name Manukura.

The two white kiwis are North Island brown kiwi who carry a rare white gene. They are not albinos.

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