Zoo Welcomes Trio of Cubs
Peekaboo! Can you spot the clouded leopard cubs triplets in this pile of animals?
Meet the playful babiesAmy Sinatra Ayres
Amy is a freelance writer and editor who worked on breaking news for ABC and AOL before she started writing Pet Scoop for Vetstreet.com. (Don't tell anyone, but pet news is much more fun!)
She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and two young daughters, who all share a love for their very spoiled chocolate Labrador, Grizzly. Now closing in on age 10, Grizzly has taken up a new hobby: stealing food. The whole family has learned that they can't turn their backs for a second if they still want to eat what's left on their plates.
Grizzly spends his days lying by Amy's feet in her home office as she writes for Crittr and Vetstreet.
At less than a year old, Sir Charles Barkley is winning the hearts of dog lovers and basketball fans alike.
March Madness is wrapping up shortly, but we’re not talking about NBA basketball legend Charles Barkley (who, by the way, has provided some of our favorite commentary of the tournament).
We’re talking about the Internet’s latest favorite pooch. This photogenic French Bulldog has nearly 10,000 followers on Instagram, and we can see why!
The pup, who will celebrate his first birthday next month, is owned by a Melissa and Paul, from Seattle. Melissa told ABC News that Paul picked the name because he’s a big basketball fan, and Barkley is “the perfect name for a dog.”
“We wanted an Instagram for him, but we didn’t want to blow up our own Instagram account,” Melissa told ABC. Looks like that was a good move!
Oregon Zoo
Just call this river otter Mo.
The Oregon Zoo named the baby Molalla, after a river in the state — and calls him Mo for short. The zoo tries to name its otters after local waterways.
The pup was born to Tilly — who was named for the Tillamook River — on Jan. 28, becoming the first river otter to be born at the zoo. The little one weighed just 4 ounces at birth, but is quickly putting on pounds thanks to mom’s high-fat milk.
“Tilly’s been very attentive and doesn’t spend too long away from Mo,” said senior keeper Julie Christie. “We’re pretty sure the pup’s a male, but we can’t be positive until our vets conduct a more thorough exam. Either way, we think Molalla will be a good name. There are plenty of females named Mo too.”
River otters are very dependent on their moms when they’re little. They don’t walk until they’re about 5 weeks old, and swimming doesn’t come naturally to them. So, Tilly has recently started teaching Mo how to swim in the zoo’s stream and pond, which keepers babyproofed for the new arrival.
This sweet little Muntjac deer was born late last month at the Red River Zoo in North Dakota — the first baby to be born at the zoo this year.
Now about a month old, the fawn can be seen trotting around her exhibit with her mom.
Red River Zoo breeds Muntjac to help create more diversity for the captive population in North America. Once they’re old enough, the deer often leave Fargo for other zoos to help with their breeding programs.
Muntjac are native to northern China, and are among the world’s oldest and smallest deer species.
Not long before Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard welcomed their baby girl, the actress tweeted a photo of her fur baby, Lola, curled up with her bare belly.
“Eavesdropping,” she captioned the picture.
Lola might have really gotten some inside information! Bell announced the arrival of her first child, Lincoln Bell Shepard, the next day.
It wasn’t the first time the little Corgi mix had used Bell’s baby bump as a pillow. In January she shared another picture of Lola snuggling with her belly. And earlier in her pregnancy, Bell posted pictures of the couple’s other rescue dog, Shakey, making a comfortable resting spot out of the Veronica Mars actress’s pregnancy pillow.
So congratulations to Kristen and Dax — and, of course, to Lincoln’s proud siblings.
Buffalo Zoo
The cub poses for a photo shoot at 3 months old.
She may look like a teddy bear, but the Buffalo Zoo’s 4-month-old polar bear cub really is this cute.
The cub, who was born on Nov. 27 at the Buffalo Zoo, was introduced to the public this month as the next phase of fund-raising for a new polar bear exhibit was announced.
Still too small to go on exhibit, the baby bear was born to mom Anana and dad Nanuq, but this little girl has been hand-raised by a veterinary technician and keepers at the zoo.
Although the cub hasn’t officially been named yet, her keepers have nicknamed her Luna because she was born on a night with a full moon.
The zoo is hoping that seeing the adorable cub will inspire more local residents to donate to their campaign to complete the $18 million, 60,000-square-foot Arctic Edge exhibit for the zoo’s polar bears. The “Bear Necessities” aims to raise the final $14 million that’s needed to finish the project.
Chester Zoo
She’s about as tall as a TV remote, and weighs only a little more than a bag of sugar — but the Chester Zoo’s baby Kirk’s dik-dik antelope is a handful for her keepers!
The tiny dik-dik failed to bond with her mom, so she’s being hand-raised by the U.K. zoo’s curator of mammals, Tim Rowlands. She sleeps at Rowlands’ house each night, and has her early morning and late-night bottles there before commuting with him to the zoo for the day.
The little one is named Aluna, which means “come here” in Swahili. “It’s rather apt!” says Rowlands. That’s because she keeps him and the others who work with him busy while she darts around the office.
