KIEV, Ukraine — Gena, a 14-year-old crocodile at an aquarium in the eastern city of Dnipropetrovsk, has been refusing food and acting listless after eating a cell phone dropped by a woman as she tried to photograph him.
Aquarium workers initially didn't believe Rimma Golovko, a new mother in her 20s, when she complained that the crocodile had swallowed her phone.
“But then the phone started ringing and the sound was coming from inside our Gena's stomach and we understood she wasn't lying,” said Alexandra, an employee.
The mishap has caused problems for the crocodile, which has not eaten or had a bowel movement in four weeks and appears depressed and in pain.
"The animal is not feeling well," said Alexandra. "His behavior has changed, he moves very little and swims much less than he used to."
Source
VALLEJO, Calif. -- North America's oldest Asian elephant has died at a Northern California theme park at the age of 71.
The average life expectancy for Asian elephants is 44.8 years.
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom on Tuesday announced the death of Taj, who had lived at the Vallejo park for 33 years.
The elephant was one of Discovery Kingdom's most popular attractions. Her tricks included stacking logs and playing tug-of-war with guests. The park retired her three years ago.
AP Photo
Source
Giant pandas are to return to the UK for the first time in 17 years.
The pair of seven-year-old pandas, Tian Tian and Yangguang, will arrive at Edinburgh zoo this year, marking "the culmination of five years of political and diplomatic negotiation at the highest level" according to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
The ambassador of China to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, said: "Pandas are a Chinese national treasure. This historical agreement is a gift to the people of the UK from China. It will represent an important symbol of our friendship and will bring our two people closer together."
Source
POWELL, Ohio -- An Ohio zoo is trying to round up runaway prairie dogs and is asking its neighbors for help.
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium said Friday 11 of the critters wriggled their way out of temporary quarters and so far only four have been recovered.
Assistant Curator Jeremy Carpenter says in a statement there's no reason to believe the animals have left zoo property. But he says nearby residents are being asked to watch for prairie dogs, just in case.
Source
Three white lion cubs are presented to the public for the first time at the city zoo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday Jan. 5, 2011. The cubs were born on Nov. 16, 2010. According to zoo officials these are the first white lions to be born in South America.
SourceAP Photo/Eduardo Di Baia
In the end, Hannibal did not administer the fatal bite to his mate's neck. And Jao Chu did not immediately kill their offspring, as is often the case.
And so, early yesterday, despite murderous tendencies in the captive species, two newborn clouded leopard cubs were found alive, well and squealing at the National Zoo's Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Va.
They were taken immediately from their gorgeous mother before she could do them harm, or do them in, placed in an incubator set at 88 degrees and fed salt water from baby bottles. Born with dappled, reptile-pattern fur, they were the first such births at the zoo in 16 years.
Their births were a coup, and the end of a complex reproduction saga involving an exotic, endangered and beautiful species of animal that experts call the ghost cat.
It was also a genetic home run: The zoo said the cubs' genes, which come from outside the captive population, make them among the most valuable clouded leopards in North America.
SourcePhoto credit: Tracy A Woodward-The Washington Post
Nebraska zookeepers are seeing double and they're thrilled about it, with the birth of twins to a rare species of tree kangaroo.
Twin joeys were born last month at the Lincoln Children's Zoo to Matschie's tree kangaroos Milla and her mate Noru. They were found in Milla's pouch last month, and count as two of the four documented Matschie's tree kangaroo births last year.
Kansas City Zoo zookeeper Jacque Blessington says only about 50 of the animals exist in North America. In the wild, they live in the rain forest in northeastern Papua New Guinea.
She says the babies were likely the size of a lima bean at birth.
They are expected to begin poking out their heads or feet as early as May.
Source:
Boston.comAP Photo/ Lincoln Children's Zoo
Gu Gu, a panda at the Beijing Zoo has attacked an intruding tourist for the third time.
In the latest incident Gu Gu went ga ga after mauling a visitor who jumped a barrier to retrieve a child's toy. The tourist leapt over barrier surrounding the panda's outdoor exercise area to retrieve the toy dropped by his 5-year-old son, said a zoo spokeswoman.
Gu Gu bit the intruder's legs and refused to let go until zookeepers pried his jaws open with tools.
Gu Gu first made news in 2007 when he bit a drunken tourist who jumped into his pen and tried to hug him. The tourist retaliated by biting the panda in the back.
In October, Gu Gu viciously bit a teenager who climbed into his exercise area out of curiosity.
Zoo managers have taken Brussels sprouts off the Christmas menu after the vegetable caused an attack of flatulence in their gorillas.
The staff at Chessington Zoo fed the giant apes on the seasonal favorite as they are filled with nutritional goodness. However, they hadn't reckoned with the gassy qualities of the tiny veggies.
Now the zoo has issued an apology after guests at the zoo expressed their horror at the potent smell that started emanating from the gorillas' enclosure.
Gorilla keeper Michael Rozzi said: "We feed the gorillas brussel sprouts during the winter because they are packed with vitamin C and have great nutritional benefits.
"Unfortunately, an embarrassing side effect is that it can cause bouts of flatulence in humans and animals alike.
"However, I don't think any of us were prepared for a smell that strong."
Source:
The london paper(via
monkeys in the news)
Keepers handling the newborn gorilla at the San Francisco Zoo are hoping to find a surrogate gorilla mother for a baby whose own mom is showing little interest in him.
Mom, an endangered western lowland gorilla named Monifa, bedded down in the gorilla enclosure about as far away as she could from her infant.
The baby gorilla, part of the critically endangered lowland western species, was the first born at the zoo in 10 years.
Source:
SF Gate
In less then one week, four Chacoan peccaries were born at the Los Angeles Zoo! The first peccary was born on Thursday, September 11 and the litter of three followed suit five days later on Tuesday, September 16, 2008. The four newest additions to the Zoo’s herd are currently on exhibit with their parents.
Like hogs, peccaries have a well-developed snout used to root out bulbs, roots, tubers and rhizomes of a variety of plants. Occasionally, peccaries also eat small mammals and reptiles. Unlike the domestic pig, the peccary is a slow and dainty eater; they do not devour their food rapidly.
Native to Bolivia, Argentina and Paraguay, the Chacoan peccary was thought to be extinct until 1972, when Dr. Ralph M. Wetzel of the University of Connecticut, found the species still existed in Paraguay.
(via
L.A. Unleashed)
A volunteer at a US animal sanctuary has died after he was savaged by a 1,000-pound liger - a rare cross between a lion and a tiger.
Peter Getz, 32, suffered fatal puncture wounds in his neck and back as Rocky, who weighs twice that of an ordinary lion and is 20 times more powerful than a human, pounced on him during feeding time.
An investigation was under way into why Mr Getz, an accomplished big cat keeper, broke with protocol and entered Rocky's enclosure at Safari's Animal Sanctuary in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
Bleeding heavily, he hauled himself out of the enclosure with help from two fellow keepers but collapsed outside and was airlifted to hospital, where he died.
Akituusaq, the rare walrus calf billed as Brooklyn's biggest baby, is flaunting a fabulous new set of titanium crowns at Coney Island's New York Aquarium.
The 16-month-old baby, affectionately called Tuusaq, was fitted with the caps after his keepers noticed the tips of his tiny tusks were already wearing away.
"There were many jokes about putting a diamond in one, or having a laser etch his initials in the other," said David DeNardo, general curator at the New York Aquarium, "but we decided that was going a little bit too overboard.
Source:
New York Daily News
Want to see what a Russian zoo looked like in the 1920's?
English Russia has
shots from Moscow Zoo - the largest Soviet and Russian zoo - back from 1920.
Even the polar bears are going green ...
Three polar bears at the Higashiyama Zoo in Nagoya, central Japan, changed their colors in July after swimming in a pond with an overgrowth of algae, prompting many questions from visitors concerned about whether the animals are sick or carrying mold, a zoo official said.
(AP Photo/Kyodo News, Shuzo Shikano)
Source:
boston.com
The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens is pleased to announce the hatching of two greater flamingo chicks, hatched on Tuesday, June 24 and Sunday, August 3. Both chicks are being reared by their parents in the lower walk-through aviary.
The greater flamingo is a social bird that breeds in colonies of tens to hundreds of thousands of birds in the wild. When they mate, they tend to pair for life. The male and female share duties when it comes to raising their chick. For example, they build the mud nest together, collectively care for the egg during the 28 – 32 day incubation period, take turns feeding the youngster and defending the nest.
Flamingos are hatched with grey color down feathers, short legs and a short, straight pink bill. They are fed a liquid secrection called “crop milk” until the chicks are fully developed. The flamingos’ pink and red plumage develops at about two years, with the feathers, legs and face coloration derived from the food found naturally in their diet of small shrimp, worms and algae. In zoos they are fed a special diet which helps them retain their color.
The greater flamingo is the largest of the six species of flamingo and has the widest of distribution. They are found in freshwater and saline habitats throughout southwest Europe, Africa, the Middle East, southwest Asia, India and Sri Lanka. Their exceptionally long neck and legs, and unique bill are adaptations for feeding. The flamingos plumage varies in color from almost white to bright pink with black primary and secondary flight feathers. They can fly long distances, up to 300 miles traveling mainly at night to find food. Flamingos like to rest and sleep standing on one leg, with the head laid on the body and the other leg tucked under the abdomen. What appears to be the flamingos knees are actually their ankles, which bend to the rear when they sit down. The greater flamingo is on display in the Zoo’s aviary with a variety of exotic bird species from around the world.
The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens is located in Griffith Park at the junction of the Ventura (134) and Golden State (5) freeways. The Zoo is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For general information, call (323) 644-4200 or visit the website at
www.lazoo.org.
Photo credit: Tad Motoyama
This baby's mother,
the Oregon Zoo's adult Colobus, Molly, was chosen as the 2008 mother of the year!
Watch the video
The Brevard Zoo, in Melbourne, FL, released photos Wednesday of a Chilean pudu born at the zoo on May 21. The female is currently about seven inches long and weighs just over one pound. At birth, she only weighted 475 grams.
Born to Lola and Elroy, the newborn is the parents' first offspring together.
The pudu is found in South America in the southern Andes of Chile and Argentina. Habitat destruction by logging and introduction of larger deer into the pudu habitat is threatening their survival.
Source:
wftv.com
China's fauna exhibits a unique diversity of apes. Unfortunately, the apes are more seriously endangered by extinction in China than in any other country. A research team assembled by anthropologists of Zurich University now conclude that another ape species has just become extinct in China's Yunnan province.
Science Daily reports that the 14-member scientific team recently carried out a survey in all Chinese forests. They could not locate a single Yunnan white-handed gibbon. The last time this ape was observed in China was in 1988 at the Nangunhe Nature Reserve in south-western Yunnan province. Their loud, melodious calls were last heard in 1992. This subspecies (Hylobates lar yunnanensis) is not known from any other place.
Luckily, these apes are not lost to us forever. Several zoos have included them in their programs. One is the
Honolulu Zoo. On their web page, you can hear the call of the white-handed gibbon:
listenYou can also see pictures of Emma, an adorable baby white-handed gibbon, born in 2000. Here's a picture of Emma, 7 hours after birth.
