Giovanni van Bronckhorst named the two rare Sumatran tiger cubs in Rotterdam Zoo. This was a heart’s desire of Rotterdam Zoo. The naming took place during the second obligatory vaccination. Giovanni was allowed to take a few hairs from the cubs for DNA-research. Finally Marc Damen, director of Rotterdam Zoo, offered him a year’s membership so that he and his family may follow the progress of the little ones.

Rotterdam Zoo wished to name the tiger cubs after Giovanni to honour his special merits during the World Cup 2010 and as a veteran of the Rotterdam football club Feyenoord. This is the more appropriate because Giovanni, like these Sumatrian tiger cubs, is from Asian origin (of: has some Asian blood).

After the naming and the vaccination the cubs and their mum stepped outside in their enclosure the Tigercreek. In spite of the rain they showed off and started exploring the entire circuit, the wet river bed included. In this beautifully, richtly planted Tigercreek it looked like a journey of discovery in the Sumatran jungle.

Rotterdam Zoo is very pleased that after 8 years tiger cubs were born again, the more so because the Sumatran tiger is an endangered species. Only a few hundred of these magnificent cats are still living on Sumatra. Therefore it is very important to breed these tigers in zoos. The European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for the Sumatran tiger is coordinated in London (UK).

source (and photos): http://www.rotterdamzoo.nl/?DocID=4523

Taipei - A private zoo in Taiwan has become the island's first to breed "ligers" - a hybrid of a lion and a tigress - but officials seized the cubs and said on Monday they may fine the owner.

The three liger cubs were born Sunday at the World Snake King Education Farm in the south, but one of them died almost immediately, said the farm's owner, Huang Kuo-nan.

Full article:

source (and photos): http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Lige ... n-20100816

movie:

source (and photos): http://www.depers.nl/opmerkelijk/502325 ... aiwan.html

iPad owners can follow the baby elephant in Blijdorp Zoo by downloading the new application "Blijdorp Streams". Launched today, this is a world first; Blijdorp Zoo are the first zoo to launch an iPad application.


With 54,000 views since the birth of the elephant on 20 July, the webcams have been a big hit on the Internet. Now wherever you are, you can follow the adventures of a baby elephant and her family and read the latest news from Blijdorp.

The free iPad application can be downloaded via the App Store (iTunes): http://itunes.apple.com/app/blijdorp-streams/id384463979?mt=8

A version for the iPhone is expected to be available within one week.

The iPad app, the webcam widget & broadcast are sponsored by Security Center, Kinky Lemon and Amaziq.


source (and photos): http://www.diergaardeblijdorp.nl/p3.php?docid=4587

The cheetah, eradicated in India by hunting nearly a century ago, will run again in the country, as three sites are earmarked for its reintroduction.


The government has approved wildlife groups' recommendations of two sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh and an area in Rajasthan as potential homes.

The government will spend 30m rupees ($0.6m; £0.4m) to restore these sites before the animals are imported.

The plan is to import the cats from Africa, Iran and the Middle East.

Kuno Palpur and Nauradehi wildlife sanctuaries in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and Shahgarh area in Jaisalmer, in the northern state of Rajasthan, have been selected as the sites to house the animals.

Trophy hunters

Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh said the reintroduction of the world's fastest land animal would "restore the grasslands" of India.

Wildlife experts say the two sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh had the capacity to accommodate nearly 80 cheetahs, although 23 human settlements will have to be moved from the one in Nauradehi.

Scores of nomadic human settlements would also have to be cleared at the site in Rajasthan on the international border with Pakistan.

"The return of the cheetah would make India the only country in the world to host six of the world's eight large cats and the only one to have all the large cats of Asia," MK Ranjitsinh of Wildlife Trust of India told the Press Trust of India news agency.

Pursued by trophy hunters and herdsmen to the brink of extinction during the Raj, the Asiatic cheetah vanished from India many decades ago.

Conservationists say less than 100 of the critically endangered subspecies remain in Iran, roaming the central deserts.

The vast majority of the 10,000 cheetahs left in the world are in Africa.

Critics of the reintroduction scheme in India say that without restoring habitat and prey base, and reducing the scope for man-animal conflict, viable cheetah populations will not flourish.

source (and photos): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10798747

The characteristic koalas, kangaroos, possums and wombats of Australia share a common American ancestor, according to genetic research from Germany.


A University of Muenster team drew up a marsupial family tree based on DNA.

Writing in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Biology journal, they suggest a single marsupial species moved from the Americas to Australia.

Marsupials differ from other mammals in that mothers carry their young in a pouch after birth.

As well as the familiar Australian species, the family includes the opossums and shrew opossums of North and South America, and also has a presence in Asian countries including Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

"I think this is pretty strong evidence now for the hypothesis of a single migration [to Australia] and a common ancestor," said Juergen Schmitz, one of the research team.

Tracing relatives

The research was made possible by the recent sequencing of genomes from two marsupials - the gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica) from South America, and the Australian tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii).

The Muenster researchers looked for DNA elements called retroposons.

These are fragments that have been copied and inserted back into DNA in a random fashion at some point during the animal's evolutionary history.

They are among the "jumping genes" that can scatter genetic information along the genome.

If two species carry the same retroposon but a third does not, that indicates that the first two are more closely related to each other than they are to the third.

Sometimes one retroposon is inserted in the middle of another, again giving vital clues as to the sequence of events in a family's evolution.

Using this method, they showed that the American opossums separated from the main lineage first.


Then at some stage an ancestral species migrated to Australia and gave rise to the various families found there now.

When exactly this happened is still unknown, as this kind of analysis does not show when in evolutionary time the retroposons were inserted.

"Maybe it's around 30-40 million years ago, but we cannot say because jumping genes do not give this information," Dr Schmitz told BBC News.

"It's now up to other people, maybe from the palaeontology field, to find out when exactly it happened."

The overall marsupial history is virtually a circular migration.

The earliest identified species (Sinodelphys szalayi) is known from 125-million-year-old fossils found in China.

Subsequently the family - or perhaps a single species - moved across the super-continent of Gondwana into what is now South America.

The marsupial family began expanding about 70-80 million years ago.

After crossing into Australia, they penetrated north into the Indonesian archipelago - almost returning to their Chinese homeland.

source (and photos): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10774536

Species Is Highly Endangered and Births in Captivity Are Rare; Female Cubs Now About 2 Months Old

A Paris zoo has announced the birth of two rare Southeast Asian clouded leopards.

The two female cubs, named Pati and Jaya, have made their first appearance to the public in recent days at the zoo in the Jardin des Plantes park.

They were born May 14. Out of tradition, the zoo didn't send out a birth announcement until now because it wanted to make sure the mother and babies were in good health.

Two other cubs were born last year to the same parents.

The cats, known for their gorgeous pelts, are threatened by poachers and loss of habitat in Southeast Asia and parts of China. The Smithsonian National Zoo says it is hard to estimate how many there are in the wild because they are reclusive.

click here to watch video of the baby leopards

source (incl. photos and video): http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/ ... 2443.shtml

A mixed-up monkey is confusing visitors at ZSL London Zoo after taking a shine to another species’ baby.

Maternal Juanita, a golden-headed lion tamarin, has adopted an emperor tamarin baby - much to the surprise of zookeepers.

The surrogate mum, who jumps around the zoo’s Rainforest Life exhibit with the two-month-old baby on her back, started taking an interest in her neighbours’ baby just weeks after it was born.

The baby emperor tamarin, who is grey and already sporting the start of an adult’s signature white moustache, was first seen clinging on to Juanita’s fiery orange mane, a month after it was born.

Emperor tamarins, native to South America, are usually brought up by their fathers who carry them until they are old enough to fend for themselves.

Senior keeper, Lucy Hawley, said: “At first the father of the emperor tamarin baby was a little nervous about Juanita – but now they all seem to get along just fine.

“Juanita has never had a baby before so it seems like her mothering instinct has just kicked in this time around… who knows what animal she’ll be carrying around next.”

Rainforest Life

Visitors can see Juanita and 'her' baby in Rainforest Life, ZSL London Zoo’s exciting new experience within the Clore Rainforest Lookout.

Enter London’s only living rainforest where you’ll come face to face with a variety of amazing rainforest species including monkeys, sloth and tamandua.

--
To watch an adorable video of the monkeys, visit the ZSL website.

source (incl. photos and videos): http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/news/ ... C5Q,IJP0,1

Today, after their first vaccinations, the two young Sumatran tiger cubs ventured into their outside enclosure at Rotterdam Zoo for the first time.

The cubs were born in the night of 20/21 May, earlier this year. For the mother tigress, Alia, who arrived from Wuppertal Zoo on 4 April 2007 when she was 2 years old, it is her first litter.

The father, Hermes, was born on 17 October 1994 at Warsaw Zoo and arrived at Blijdorp on 17 May 1996. He lives alone on one half of the Tiger Creek in Blijdorp.

Mother Alia and her cubs are now exploring their own half of Tiger Creek, which is a special experience for the two cubs. Up until now, they have stayed very close to their mother in the indoor nursery where the public could watch them on a monitor.

It's been eight years since there were tiger cubs born at Blijdorp and the staff at the zoo are very pleased with the little cubs, especially as the Sumatran tiger is threatened with extinction. In Sumatra, only a few of these beautiful cats remain. Breeding of the Sumatran tiger in captivity is coordinated in London for the European breeding program (EEP).

It took a long time before Alia and Hermes came together for mating. Eventually, they succeeded, and with two endearing little tiger cubs as a great result. With the current weather and the beautiful planting in the Tiger Creek, it's like the cubs are exploring the jungles of Sumatra!

source (and photos): http://www.diergaardeblijdorp.nl/?DocID=4572

Last night, Tuesday 20 July, an elephant was born at 22:00 in Blijdorp Zoo, Rotterdam. It is the fourteenth elephant born at Blijdorp, and is the ninth female.


For the father, Timber, born in 1998 to Ramon (now deceased) and Khaing Phyo Phyo (now at Antwerp Zoo), it is his first young. The mother, Bangka, born in 2000 to Alexander (now at Amersfoort Zoo) and Irma (still at Blijdorp Zoo), it is also her first young.

It is also the first time in the world that an elephant is born to parents that were also born in the same zoo, and yet are not related to each other.

The elephant herd at Blijdorp Zoo now consists of one male and six females.There are three generations of elephants; Irma is a grandmother.

Since the birth, Bangka has been in the outside enclosure with her calf, for the public to see.

You can watch the elephant family live via a webcam during the evening and night. During the day they are seen in the large outdoor enclosure.

source (and photos): http://www.diergaardeblijdorp.nl/?DocID=4569

Orang Utan Anak from Ouwehands Zoo gave birth to a boy on Tuesday, 13 July 2010. Both mother and son are doing very well. At this time Anak and her son are still separated from the rest of the group. The other orang utans are interested though and are trying to catch a glimps from the new member of the family.

The Organ Utan group in Ouwehands consists of eight animals. Bako is the male of the group and therefore the father of the newborn. The group further has two fully grown females Jewel and Tijntah and the young Damai, Yuno and Dawn.

Mother and son can be seen in the inside enclosure.

source (and photos): http://www.ouwehand.nl/Basis.aspx?Tid=5 ... uws.Id=133

Two little Visayan Warty Piglets are running round and round in the Malaysian Forest at Blijdorp Zoo. They are enjoying the weather. On first glance, one would not think they are anything special. However, the Visayan Warty Pig is a critically endangered specie.

Blijdorp Zoo imported eight of them six years ago. The first piglets were born already in 2005 and in the meantime there are living more than 40 of this strange pig in a number of European Zoos. Blijdorp coordinates the breeding programme of the European Endangereed Species Programme (EEP) for this species. Having said that, all of the animals remain property of the Philipines Government.

source (and photos): http://www.rotterdamzoo.nl/?docid=4567

Now that the colobus monkeys have moved to their brand new enclosure, the islands between the tiger enclosure and the Terraszaal restaurant have been inhabited by 10 ring-tailed lemurs.

These relatively tall half-monkeys with their noticeable bushy tails belong to the maki or lemur family and came from Apenheul. At Apenheul, rivalry between females of one big group occured resulting in two hostile groups. A new group was formed with ten of these females. As Blijdorp was just on the lookout for new inhabitants for the now empty enclosure of the colobus monkeys, the whole group ended up in Rotterdam.

It was approximately 30 years ago, when Blijdorp had ring-tailed lemurs for the last time. Back then they were kept behind the scenes. Now they are back and also visible to the public.

source (and photos): http://www.rotterdamzoo.nl/p3.php?docid=4550

Olmense Zoo's white lion Apollo with female, Doedoe (Brown Lion) recently had a new litter of cubs. Four little ones, them and mother Doedoe are doing very well.

It is Doedoe's first litter since arrving at Olmense Zoo. For now she and the cubs remain in the inside enclosure where the public can see them through the glass.

The cubs all have the colour of mother Doedoe but do carry the white gene from their father.

source (and photos): http://www.olmensezoo.be/cms/index.php/ ... r-geworden

A few months ago, a lovely couple of jungle cat had arrived at Olmense Zoo.

The male and female were not just sitting around during the last months. In the meantime, it appears that they have had a litter of four and the little ones make sure to get heard in the inside enclosure.

The little ones are currently still with their mother. The eyes are open already ... so it will not be long before the family can venture outside.

The cats look like an ordinary cat compared to other small cats like the caracal or the serval. However, that does not mean that they are less important as a species.

source (and photos): http://www.olmensezoo.be/cms/index.php/ ... -niet-stil

When Australian surfers found three weak juvenile penguins on beaches near Sydney, they contacted the Taronga Zoo, which admitted them to their animal hospital. After almost three months of rehab, the still tiny penguins were healthy enough to return to their ocean home. Watch some of their recovery and their release in the touching video below and make sure to catch their post meal singing session around minute 1:40.



Penguins come ashore to molt and during that time they are particularly vulnerable to predators.

source: http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2010/0 ... -wild.html