Archive for the ‘Babies’ Category

May
19

Presenting: Paternal Primates

Posted by in Adaptations,Animal Info,Babies,Events,Primates

This year in honor of Father’s Day we are having a TOAD-ally Awesome Father’s Day event at the zoo and giving you a chance to name a Houston Toad in honor of Dad.

We have a lot of dads here at the Zoo and they come in (literally!) all shapes and sizes.  In the animal kingdom there is a great deal of variation in the level of paternal care given by dads.   Male seahorses, for instance, carry the eggs of their offspring inside their bodies, then hatch them and give birth to their live babies.  I know, weird, right?

Male seahorses carry the eggs of their young and then give birth to them. This is called ovoviviparity. Use THAT word in your next scrabble game!

Then there are the multitudes of dads in the animal kindom that “Conceive and Leave” as my colleague put it and have zero involvement in the care or rearing of their young.   Many other species fall somewhere between those polar opposites.  
     
But this blog isn’t about fish, even ones as amazing and mind-blowing as seahorses.  No, this is a blog about primates.  Otherwise I would have to change the title, and frankly it took me several long, agonizing seconds to come up with this one.  
 
The natural history of a species dictates the paternal and maternal roles, and within the primate group, the entire spectrum of care is exhibited.  Primates are nothing if not adaptable, though, so even within a species, individuals may show more or less paternal care than is usual or expected.   
 
Orangutans, for example, generally have little or nothing do do with their offspring.  Our male Doc, however, not only tolerates, but often enjoys the company of his son Solaris.  (Doc is also the father of our newest baby, Aurora.) Doc and Solaris even wrestle and play together once in a while.

Solaris and his dad Doc have a laugh together.

Some of the smallest primates, on the other hand, make the best dads.  Among the many species of marmosets and tamarins, it’s the dads who carry the kids around and provide day care.  Mom is there to provide milk and attend the PTA meetings, but dad is the main caregiver and transporter.

A pygmy marmoset dad and baby. Caution: The cuteness of this photo could cause permanent retinal damage!

And speaking of Dad-Of-The-Year awards, siamang dads are well-deserving.  Like tamarins and marmosets, siamang dads are very involved in the lives of their youngsters.  And since siamangs don’t leave for college until they are eight or nine years old, it’s a fair commitment on dad’s (and mom’s, too) part.  Siamangs dads help moms carry their offspring from about 8 months until about two years,  at which time the kid usually gets her first car and is embarrassed to be seen with either parent.

Our male siamang Boomer sadly recently passed away, but he was a prime example of a great siamang dad to his daughters Raya and Leela. Baby Leela plays on top of Dad Boomer while Mom Jambi looks on.

 

Siamangs and tamarins are (mostly) monogamous, so the male can pretty much count on his mate’s offspring having his genes.  It is to his advantage, then, to put a lot of effort into making sure the kid prospers and goes on to marry the football captain.

Chimps, on the other hand, live in large multi-male, multi-female groups, and since the ladies don’t “limit their options”, so to speak,  it’s basically anybody’s guess who the kids belong to.   Most of the time, child care is up to mom, but as the kids grow and learn how to be chimps, the involvement of the adult males is important.  Big brothers especially, play with and look out for their younger siblings, but most big males, even the tough guys, enjoy playing with the youngsters. 

Willie the Kid and two adult males play with each other. One of them is his dad, but since we didn't show them the genetic test results, they don't know that. In the foreground, Willie's mom Lulu wonders when she might expect dinner to be served .

It has even been recorded more than once in the wild that seemingly unrelated adult males have “adopted” very young kids when they have lost their moms.  They will protect and even carry the infants through the forest, looking out for them as best they can.  Now if that doesn’t warm your heart this Father’s Day, nothing will! 

Happy Father’s Day to all you Dad’s out there looking out for your little ones!

Celebrate Dad by giving him a memorable Father’s Day gift this year–name a Houston Toad after him!  With your gift, you help support the Houston Toads, a critically endangered species native to Texas.  Click here to learn more about Houston Toads and how you can further the Houston Zoo’s conservation efforts that help ensure their survival.

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May
09

The Houston Zoo is on Univision!

Posted by in Babies,Behind the Scenes,Media,Primates

Something new is afoot.  Every Tuesday at 7 AM, the Houston Zoo is doing a spot on Univision, the city’s premiere spanish-language channel.

A Houston Zoo Keeper in the Univision studio with a snake

Now you can have a little of the Zoo come right into your living room first thing in the morning. Visit with several of our caregivers through the summer, who will bring a different animal to the TV studio every Tuesday morning and talk with the hosts about the species.

Watch at 7 AM every other Tuesday through the summer

Tomorrow, May 10 , catch Keeper Marci, from Natural Encounters, talking about out new baby orangutan Aurora! You should find Univision on Channel 1o on both Comcast and Uverse. If not, please check your local listings.

Little Aurora Orangutan

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Apr
11

Siamang Family Update

Posted by in Babies,Primates,Wortham World of Primates

Siamang groups have very strong social bonds, which are reinforced by grooming and play.  Jambi pays special attention to grooming the faces of her family members, sometimes to their annoyance. Jambi is mom to Leela, and Boomer is her dad. You can tell who is whom because Jambi is a little larger than Boomer.

Leela has been growing ever more playful as she discovers new things on her own.

At six months old, Leela is still being carried by her mother, but can also be seen energetically following on her own.  She is really getting the hang of brachiating, although she practices close to the ground.  Siamangs can walk on two legs for short distances, and Leela has just graduated to the stage where she can run without holding on for a few moments.  Each day her progress improves, and she’ll soon be able to use her arms to balance herself.

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Mar
18

Witnessing the Birth of a Giraffe at the Houston Zoo

Posted by in African Forest,Babies,Behind the Scenes,Featured,Giraffes,Hoofed Stock

I had the honor of capturing baby giraffe Asali’s birth on film last week for the Houston Zoo’s YouTube Channel. On a busy Friday afternoon in the spring sunshine, Tyra the giraffe began giving birth in the middle of the field in full view of an increasingly large crowd of public. Not long after I arrived, out of breath, having racewalked across the zoo with camera in hand, the keeper staff decided Tyra might appreciate a little privacy. They opened up the gate to the back and waved a green plastic buoy atop a tall bamboo pole. The giraffes notice this as a “come over here if you like” signal. Tyra thought this was a great idea and moseyed into the private back yard, followed by moans of many disappointed guests. For those of you who thought you might have missed the birth, here it is in high definition:

Myself and a few other chosen staff were allowed to follow keepers and vets behind the scenes. It’s not safe to stand in the yard with the giraffes – although they’re completely gentle, there’s always a risk of one accidentally crushing your foot with a misplaced hoof – so we watched and I filmed from behind a wall. Tyra slowly paced around the yard, looking around and gazing at us with her big dark eyes as if to reassure us that she had this completely under control. She stopped periodically for contractions, and would often point her back end at us the contractions came – she knew what we were there to monitor.

We watched and I filmed as giraffe Asali was born

As we watched the baby’s nose, tongue, and then the entire head emerged. Unlike a human birth, the head is not the first to come out, but only after the front feet have appeared. After a brief delay the shoulders came after, and then it was just a minute more before the whole baby came sliding out. Since giraffe moms give birth standing up, it’s a rude awakening into life as baby falls to the ground.

The most remarkable thing about the whole process was how silent it was. There were no outcries of pain, beeps of fetal monitors or hurried bustle of nursing staff around a maternity ward.  Zoo veterinarians kept a vigilant eye, ready for any intervention needed, and we all waited holding our breath while Tyra calmly and quietly brought Asali into the world.

 

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Mar
14

Naked as a Jaybird: A Look at Feather Growth in Baby Birds

Posted by in Babies,Birds

To continue our series on feathers, let’s take a look at how birds grow these marvels of bioengineering.  One of the best ways to understand this process, is to examine feather growth stages in altricial chicks.

Altricial chicks are often featherless (some species have sparse natal down), blind, and completely helpless when they hatch.  These chicks grow rapidly, thanks to an overwhelming food supply from the parents.

Below is a photo of a Blue-winged Kookaburra chick hatched at the Houston Zoo, soon after emerging from the egg.

A Blue-winged Kookaburra Chick

Once you get past the absolute alien appearance of these little guys, you may notice small white bumps on the skin of the bird, most prominent on the neck in this picture.  These bumps are called papillae and they form during embryonic development, or to put it simply, while the chick is growing in the egg.  These papillae eventually form follicles, and from these follicles, similar to human hair growth, feathers form.

You may be surprised, however, at how those feathers form.  The picture below is the same kookaburra chick, covered in pin feathers.

The same Kookaburra Chick!

The bird, no longer looking like an alien insect, now resembles a character from a horror movie, or a member of a great punk band.

During this stage, the developing feather is nourished by blood vessels that extend into the feather shaft, giving the pin feathers a very dark coloration.  These cells are alive and multiplying, but the cells eventually die as the feather grows, allowing them to harden and stand up to the pressures of the surrounding environment, and the blood supply is cut off once the feather is fully formed.  These growing feathers are densely packed in to a feather sheath, and when the sheath begins to break open, the feathers unfurl from the packaging.

This eruption of feathers can be seen below, in a photograph of a Golden-headed Quetzal chick:

Golden-headed Quetzal chick, with feathers unfurling from the feather sheath.

To best illustrate feather growth in chicks, check out this amazing series of photographs of growing Red Lorikeets by fellow bird keeper, Matt Schmit:

Red Lorikeets on hatch day

One Week Old

Three Weeks Old

Four Weeks Old

Five Weeks Old

Eight Weeks Old

In all of these chicks, you can easily see that feathers are growing from some areas of the skin, while other areas remain bare.  These areas, where the feathers emerge from the skin are called feather tracts, or pterylae.  The bare areas of skin are called apteria.

The prominent feather tracts of two Purplish-backed Jay chicks

The reasoning for this arrangement of feathers is simple.  It allows the birds to function with less feathers overall, somewhat like a ‘feather comb-over’, which drastically reduces the total weight of feathers, just another adaptation for flight.

Most birds have these large areas of featherless skin, but there are a few notable exceptions.  Penguins and ratites are uniformly covered in feathers. As flightless birds, they do not need to maintain their svelte figures and can boast as many feathers as possible to cover and protect their bodies.

The arrangement of feather tracts and bare skin is collectively known as pterylosis, and amazingly enough, this differs from one group of birds to another!  While we do not know the reasoning behind these differences, scientists can use feather tract patterns to determine how to classify and group birds.

By this point, you may be wondering where all those cute, fluffy baby birds are.  Not all chicks hatch, “naked as a jaybird”. The adorable chicks below are covered in natal down.

Congo Peafowl Chick

Flamingo chicks have thick white natal down.

These natal down feathers are essential to the survival of some chicks, providing insulation and camouflage.  While adult birds also have body down feathers, grown from follicles devoted to solely to the production of these down feathers, natal down grows out of the same follicles that eventually produce ‘typical’ feathers.  Often, these natal down feathers are actually on the tip of the typical feathers, and as those feathers grow, the soft fuzzy down drops away.

This can lead to a very awkward stage of development, during which a chick may be partially cute and fluffy, and partially pokey and pointy, such as the ibis chick below.

Waldrapp Ibis Chick with flight feathers growing from the wings.

As a general rule of thumb, all chicks are handled with extreme care, but during this feather growth period, it is especially important to have a gentle hand. It is quite evident that growing so many feathers at once is energy-consuming, uncomfortable, and really very itchy.
Now that we have covered how a bird grows these ‘typical’ feathers, our next step is learning about these contour feathers and their numerous functions.

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Feb
22

Maned Wolf Pups: Play Time All the Time

Posted by in Babies,Behind the Scenes,Zoo Births

At 5 weeks old, Dora and Diego are getting much more mobile, therefore more playful. After feeding time, they run around the pen, attacking stuffed animals and wrestling with each other. Playing looks like fun, but its also how puppies practice and learn hunting and social skills they will need as adults.

The puppies will soon outgrow their accommodations, but while they’re here, let’s take a tour. The “puppy room” is located at the Veterinary Clinic. We took over a room normally used to house sick or injured animals and moved in a refrigerator and microwave (for storing and warming formula), a table for all our supplies (scale, bottles, etc.), detailed log books for recording feedings and behavior, and a cot to sleep on. Several staff take turns caring for the pups during the day and someone stays with them overnight. Here’s the latest video, where you can see the setup and of course, some ridiculously cute puppy playing.

In the puppy pen, Dora and Diego have toys, blankets and a crate to sleep in. One of their favorite features is the “puppy fort” which is just a blanket attached to the pen to make a dark quiet space. They like to sleep back here, probably because it is similar to the den that their mother would dig for them in the wild.

hanging out in the fort

Coming soon: Blogs about the puppies’ first trip outside and and introduction to their new friend. Stay tuned! 

 

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Feb
18

Maned Wolf Pups: I Want One!

Posted by in Babies,Behind the Scenes,Carnivores,Endangered,Zoo Births

The response to the maned wolf puppies has been overwhelming – hundreds of you have watched their videos and commented on their photos. Social media is allowing us to share so much more of what goes on behind the scenes at the zoo, which is as much fun for us as it is for our guests. I’m going to take some time today to answer some of your frequently asked questions and respond to some of your comments.

Why aren’t the puppies being raised by their mother and how is she doing since the birth?

Dora and Diego’s mother, Lucy is still inexperienced at motherhood and that first night she was having some trouble with the pups. Because it was so cold that night, we had to intervene or there was a danger the pups could have frozen to death. For more on how that first night went, check out the first post in this series. Lucy and Seis are doing fine and are out on exhibit together. Unfortunately we won’t be able to put the puppies back with their parents because we still need to feed them ourselves.

Dora and Deigo at 4 weeks old

They are so cute, I want one!

I suspect that most of the time this is said as an impulsive response to cute baby photos but there are a few people out there that think an exotic pet might be a neat idea. On the contrary, its a really bad idea, and here’s why: exotic animals are not domesticated like cats, dogs, goats, etc. so while they might be tame and cute as youngsters, they outgrow that and start acting like wild animals eventually. This usually results in a phone call to the zoo asking us to take the animal because its too expensive, its destroying the house, or worse, it has injured a person or a pet. Unfortunately we can’t take all these animals and their owners struggle to find good homes for them. Still not convinced? There’s more info on our website.

I wish I was there helping raise those puppies – how do I get that job?

Working here at the zoo is one of the best jobs in the world, but its not all playing with cute animals. Zookeeping is hard work, you spend most of your time outdoors, you work weekends, nights, holidays, hurricanes and snowstorms. Its hard physical labor cleaning cages and hauling hay bales, but it also requires a strong educational background in animal behavior, conservation, and biology.

Still want to be a zookeeper? A degree in a wildlife related field is a good place to start but the field is competetive, so you’ll need some experience too. Time spent as an intern or volunteer gives you the chance to do all of the above (for no pay of course). Volunteering is a great way to see if this is the job for you and it also allows people that already have another career a chance to work at the zoo too.

My point is, its a lot of hard work that leads up to the opportunity to do something this special, and whether you are staff or a volunteer, you have to the whole job, not the fun parts.

carnivore keeper Angie feeds Dora

When will the puppies be on exhibit?

We’re still working on the plan for this one, but we hope to have them out for at least part of the day in the next few weeks. Before they can leave the zoo clinic, they have to get their shots and we want to make sure its warm enough for them to go outside. We’ll keep you posted here on the blog when they are ready to make their big debut!

Thanks for all your interest and support and let me know in the comments if you have more questions! And keep checking back for the next news about the maned wolf pups.

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Feb
16

Maned Wolf Pups: Dinner Time

Posted by in Babies,Behind the Scenes,Carnivores,Endangered,Zoo Births

At 4 weeks of age, maned wolf puppies Dora and Diego are ready to start on solid food. Adult maned wolves are omniviorous, meaning they eat both plant material and meat. Here at the zoo, their diet consists of a specially formulated dry kibble, raw meat, and a variety of fruits and vegetables. The first stage of the transition for the puppies is a gruel made with soaked kibble, canned dog food and some formula.

Dora takes her first bites

They need a little help at first, and we have put some on our fingers and feed it to them until they get the hang of it. Even then, sometimes they think its more fun to play in their food than to eat it, which means we’ll spend the rest of the day smelling like dog food!

Editor’s Note: Want to read more about the maned wolf pups? Click HERE and HERE for the two previous post. And come back to the Houston Zoo blog  for the next one, posting later this week!

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Feb
14

Green Tree Pythons Hatch at the Houston Zoo!

Posted by in Babies,Reptiles

Green Tree Pythons (Morelia viridis) are native to New Guinea and northern Australia.  They are found in many zoo collections due to their vibrant green and yellow colors and their tropical arboreal habitat.  

The Houston Zoo has had Green tree pythons in the collection since the late 1960′s and just recently hatched a new clutch of this species. The father has been at the Houston Zoo since January, 1986, and has fathered other offspring in the past, while the mother has been with us since October, 2008, when she was evacuated from Moody Gardens after Hurricane Ike.
 

Of the 19 eggs laid, 18 hatched after a 54 day incubation period, resulting in 10 red offspring and 8 yellow offspring. 

 

Their average weight was only 8 ½ grams, which is less than a third of an ounce.

What many visitors may not be aware of are the amazing colors that newly hatched animals exhibit – either bright yellow or brick 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. Red hatchlings have been found on only a few islands including New Guinea. These pythons are nocturnal so in the zoo we often have to enjoy seeing them on display sound asleep and coiled on tree branches.

Green tree pythons live in any type of tropical forest including both rain forest and secondary growth forest. Adults are found high up in trees, sometimes over eighty feet above the ground. Hatchlings live near the ground and feed on lizards and invertebrates. 

As these pythons grow, their diet changes to one comprising small mammals and birds.  As this occurs they move higher and higher into the trees.  Adults average around 4.5 feet in length.  The young normally hatch sometime during November to mid December.  This is just in time for the wet season, which helps to ensure plenty of food for the young pythons. 

Be sure to come on in to see these sometime soon.

Written by Beth Moorhead, Senior Zoo Keeper

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Feb
11

Maned Wolf Pups: Upgrading Accommodations

Posted by in Babies,Behind the Scenes,Carnivores,Endangered,Zoo Births

Over the course of weeks 2 and 3, the puppies start to get more active, they are spending more time awake and moving around. This meant we had to update their accommodations. They were old enough to maintain their body temperature so we made a puppy play pen for them.

We started out with a small wading pool but within days they were crawling over the sides so we expanded into a larger pen. This space is a little bigger and we added toys and some “furniture” for them. At this age, its important for them to start learning to navigate around and over obstacles and get used to walking on different types of surfaces.

napping in the pool

They still spend a lot of time napping at this stage but the extra space sure comes in handy when the urge to play strikes: 

Maned wolf puppies Dora and Diego are not on exhibit it the zoo yet so this is the only place to get the latest updates – stay tuned for more stories, photos and video!

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