ZooBorns

Aurora, Houston Zoo's Orphaned Baby Orangutan, Gets a Mom

After months of tender loving care and sleepless nights, a team of 50 trained Houston Zoo care givers who have been hand-raising baby orangutan Aurora, achieved its ultimate goal – Aurora’s ‘adoption’ by the Zoo’s experienced surrogate orangutan mom Cheyenne.

Aurora was born on March 2 of 2011. After the first 12 hours, birth mom Kelly abandoned the infant and refused repeated attempts by zoo staff to return the baby to her. Concerned for Aurora’s welfare, the primate care team made the decision to hand rear the baby.

For 9 months, always in view of the Zoo’s other orangutans, a total 50 different volunteers assisted the Houston Zoo’s primate care team in that process. Aurora clung to her care givers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can see a remarkable video about that process in our ZooBorns article published last April. When Aurora was thriving and ready to move on, the care team closely monitored Kelly and Cheyenne to gauge their interest in the baby.

“As Aurora became more independent of her care givers, we taught her to go through what’s called a ‘creep door’, a very small opening in doors between rooms in the off-exhibit night house,” said Killam.

On December 28, the creep door between Cheyenne and Aurora was opened for the first time. “Aurora chose not to go completely through it, instead touching and playing with Cheyenne, who reached her arm through,” said Killam. The next day, Cheyenne chose not to play with Aurora through the creep door, but instead sat just outside it. She waited patiently until Aurora came through the on her own and then Cheyenne picked Aurora up and carried her across the room.  

Cheyenne carried Aurora around for the next 7 hours, even allowing Aurora to ride on her head. The two shared produce and cereal and fruit juice together; the primate care team was able to give Aurora her bottles right next to Cheyenne. Several times Cheyenne would do somersaults around Aurora as the little orangutan watched in amazement. “It was a wonderful day,” said Killam. 

The two can now be seen in the outdoor habitat together and all is well.

Photo Credits: Stephanie Adams/Houston Zoo

Brody the Baby Bongo, Born at the Houston Zoo

There's a new baby Bongo at the Houston Zoo in Texas, and his name is Brody. Born on December 6, Brody weighed just over 40 pounds (18.3 kg). He’s a big healthy boy with a good appetite as evidenced by his current weight 5 weeks later - 92+ pounds (42 kg). He can be seen every day (weather permitting) on exhibit with his 3 year old mom Penelope. His favorite spot for resting and naps is in the front right hand corner of the exhibit.

To the casual observer, all bongo calves look alike. But the zoo's keepers found a perfect way to tell them apart – they count the white stripes on their side. Bongo can have 10 to 14 white stripes on each side and each side can present a different configuration. For instance, Penelope has 11 stripes on each side. 

A bongo is a type of antelope native to the lowlands and mountain forests of Kenya and western Africa and are among the largest of the African forest antelope. In the wild, bongos are shy and elusive but very social. In fact, they are the only forest antelope to form herds.

The Western or lowland bongo is classified as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the IUCN. The Eastern or mountain bongo is classified as endangered. 

Photo Credit: Stephanie Adams/Houston Zoo

Three's Company For Houston Zoo's Fossa Troupe!

On June 25, 2011, three Fossa pups were born to the Houston Zoo's female, Riana. Although Riana was only with her own mom for a few days before keeper’s had to intervene due to maternal aggression, she has proven to be an excellent and laid back mother. Houston Zoo carnivore keepers set up cameras in Riana’s nest box and because they were already raising an orangutan infant, the monitor was set up in the primate area. The overnight caregivers pulled double duty, monitoring Riana and her pups remotely while caring for baby Aurora, their hand-raised orangutan.

The litter turned out to be three girls, named Ingrid, Heidi and Gretchen in honor of their father, Hansel. True to their agile fossa nature, the girls are extremely active, tumbling around their enclosure while using their long tails for balance. One of their favorite activities is trying to run all together on their giant “hamster wheel”, built by Keeper Josh Young. Usually one of them wants to run the opposite direction from her sisters, which makes for some really great entertainment for our keeper staff!

Photo Credit: Stephanie Adams/Houston Zoo

More pics and info below the fold!

Houston Zoo Welcomes Greater Kudu Baby

This big eared baby kudu was born on Agust 31 in The African Forest at the Houston Zoo. She weighed approximately 15.9 kilos ( 35 pounds) at birth. Her keepers say, "She is bright eyed and quite curious - she's always looking around."

Gestation for Greater kudu is about 9 mo. Her mother, Clementine, has proven to be very good with her baby. "The birth was easy. It started in the afternoon and was all of two hours. And the baby nursed right away," the keeper continued. "The calf is doing well and being slowly introduced to the rest of her herd - dad Alfonzo and female Charlotte and her offspring Apollo".

She has yet to be named. The kudu share the habitat with a trio of Southern White rhinos in The African Forest. The newest member of the kudu family will be out in the exhibit after introductions to the rhinos occur.

Photo Credit: Stephanie Adams/Houston Zoo

You can view a full photo album on the Houston Zoo's website.

Prevost Squirrel Babies At The Houston Zoo

The Houston Zoo’s new breeding pair of Prevost squirrels, Walnut and Mali, hit the ground running and produced its first litter on June 25th, fifty-one days after being introduced. The two male pups, Ranger and Danger, are thriving under the excellent care of their first-time mother. 

Native to the forests of Southeast Asia, the colorful Prevost’s squirrel has a gestation period of forty days. Mali choose to give birth in an off-exhibit area in a wooden nest box. Prevost’s squirrel mothers will carefully guard the nestbox, but due to Mali’s excellent training and her relationship with the keepers, staff had no trouble getting her to go into a travel crate for a few minutes, allowing for the pups to be checked. Keepers were able to obtain the weights of the pups and note milestones. The pups started to open their eyes at 16 days and began venturing out of the nestbox at about one month of age.

Ranger and Danger are not on exhibit yet, but may be exploring the habitat soon. As the youngsters grow up, zoo keepers hope that Walnut and Mali will continue to contribute to the zoo population of this beautiful, lively species.

Photo Credit:Houston Zoo

Holding a Baby Orangutan... for 24 Hours a Day

On March 2nd, primate staff at the Houston Zoo were thrilled to discover that mother orangutan Kelly had given birth overnight. Unfortunately Kelly neglected her baby within the first 24 hours so Zoo staff were forced to intervene and care for the infant. Fortunately the baby is doing quite well and the Houston Zoo is optimistic that the one month old ape can be reunited with mom or introduced to a surrogate who will raise the baby as its own. Since infant orangutans cling to their mothers for their first few months of life, zoo staff currently carry the baby for 24 hours a day! Learn more on the Houston Zoo's blog and do not miss the video below.

Photo credit © Stephanie Adams/Houston Zoo and Video credit © Kara Masharani/Houston Zoo

Pool Time for the Houston Zoo's Young Elephants

Recently, Houston Zoo keepers gave Baylor and Tupelo a big kiddie pool. Now that Baylor weighs more than 1100 pounds and Tupelo weighs more than 600 pounds, the small, inflatable pools do not last longer than 5 minutes without getting popped. The babies now get a family size pool which is 120 inches in length and holds both calves. It is a lot more durable. This size pool lasts for about 5 uses before it has to be replaced. Playing in the pool is a fun enrichment activity for the babies and the pool is given to them when the weather allows.

Houston's Maned Wolf Pups Are All Ears

Dora and Diego, Houston Zoo's Maned Wolf pups are growing fast, but perhaps not as fast as their ears!  The two were born in late December and are being hand-reared at The Denton Cooley Animal Hospital. In order to help Dora and Deigo prepare for socialization with other wolves, Houston Zoo enlisted the help of an experienced "Mom". According to the zoo's blog, "the best option would have been to introduce them to another Maned Wolf litter that was being mother-raised but there were no other females due at the same time as our pups. So we looked internally and one candidate stood out as being right for the job: Taji, the Anatolian Shepherd Dog.  Taji was raised with the cheetahs and works as part of our Cheetah Ambassador Program."

The pups cuddle up to auntie Taji...

Photo credits: Houston Zoo

More cuteness below the fold...

Giraffe Is First Birth at Houston Zoo's African Forest

The Houston Zoo is proud to announce the birth of a female Masai Giraffe, the first birth in The African Forest, the Zoo’s newest addition which opened on December 10, 2010.  Mom Tyra delivered the healthy female calf shortly after 5 p.m. on March 4 at the McGovern Giraffe Exhibit at The African Forest following a 14 month pregnancy. “The calf weighs 150 pounds and is 6 foot 6 inches tall. She’s a strong healthy baby,” said Houston Zoo Hoofed Stock Supervisor Laurie McGivern. This is 12 year old Tyra’s sixth calf.  Kiva, the father is 15 years old.  With this new arrival, the Houston Zoo’s herd of Masai giraffe has grown to 8, including 5 males and 3 females.

reciprocal giraffe kisses...

Photo credits: Stephanie Adams / Houston Zoo

Green Tree Python Babies Slither into Houston

Green Tree Pythons are a favorite among reptile fans due to their vibrant green color. However, zoo visitors are often amazed to see that newly hatched babies are either bright yellow or brick red. The Houston Zoo recently hatched 18 little Green Tree Pythons, 8 yellow and 10 red.  These colors help them hide in their preferred habitat, which is in low lying tree branches along the forest edge. When they grow to about 22 inches long their color changes to bright green - sometimes this color change can occur in only 8 days! The red and yellow colors are not related to sex or any other trait. While these reptiles may eventually reach over 4 1/2 feet in length, at birth they are about the length of a pencil. 

(Below) An adult Green Tree Python in its trademark colors

Photo credits: Stephanie Adams

More photos and info below the fold