Publication of the Utica Zoological Society May/June 1996 Volume 4 Number 3 ~..,.- Spring has arrived ...~nally! It~~--~,._ sensitive. The babies have tender was a long, cold wmter, bu -::: ~-. v~ ~ . ink skin and are easily sunburned underneath several ~eet of snow, · - ~· - , e;' ' uring their first few weeks of life. plants and arumals are To prevent this mom will lead her beginning to feel the change of the whale . family, are usually baby to a mud hoie so they can cover seasons.For many species of wildlife, h~lthy and robust ~t birth. Th~y themselves with~ pr?,tective co~ting of spring is the time for giving birth. The qm~kly adapt t? their new aq~IC mud, sort of a rhino sunscreen . ycle of life is quite different for envrronment, With mother watching When they are born, African • mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and them very closely. The mother colobus monkeys are covered with reptiles. All mammals (with the guides her calfs movements, and curly white fur! The infants are passed exception of a few oddities such as the some mothers have even been back and forth among the troop's duck-billed platypus and the spiny observed disciplining the calves females, and it is believed that the all- ~teater) give birth to l.iv~ young, while when they misbehave! The calf white fur of the babies encourages this birds, fish and amp~tbians lay eg~s . nurses within an hour after it is behavior. Because they look different Snakes are an exception: some spectes . · b'rth t . born, and as often as four times from the adults, who are black With gtve 1 o 1IVe young, some 1ay eggs, . while other incubate eggs inside their every hour for the first couple of white faces and shoulders, the baby body. weeks . Although it begins sampling monkeys immediately become the Marsupials, such as small fish at around 6 months of center of attention, just the way a opossums, have a very unique way of age, the calf continues to nurse for newborn human baby does. This giving birth. The baby is born in the up to two years. Abandoned or ensures that the baby will be protected embryonic stage, blind, hairless and rejected pups of California sea and cared for. Some of the female not fully developed. After birth, it lions, harbor seals and elephant "aunts" are a little over-zealous in clings to its mother's fur and slowly seals, as well as dolphins, have been wanting to hold the baby, and it may crawls to her pouch. There is nothing successfully hand-raised at zoos and squeal loudly! Mom will immediately the mother can do if the baby can not find its way to the pouch or falls off aquaria around the world. These come running, take her baby back, and along the way. However, the pattern of little pups will usually nurse from a settle down with it for a long hugging fur on the mother's belly grows in such bottle, just like a human infant. session. a way that it directs the youngster. After 16 months of Unlike the cuddly-looking Once it reaches her pouch, the baby pregnancy (nearly twice as long as koala bears in Australia or the majestic attaches itself to a nipple. There it humans), rhinoceros mothers give lions in Africa, there has been little stays until it is fully developed. birth to a baby that weighs over 150 information about South American Kangaroos, wallabies and koalas are pounds. The mother is extremely tapirs. Despite their barrel-shaped • some of the more familiar marsupials. protective of her baby, and will bodies and piglike snouts, tapirs are There are almost as many charge anyone or anything she closely related to horses and rhinos. different ways of caring for young as perceives as a threat. Amazingly, Most people think they look like pigs there are types of animals. Dolphins, even though rhinos look like or even elephants. The mother tapir one of the most beloved members of armored tanks, their skin is quite 1 I Cycle ofLife (Continued on next page} (Cycle ofLife: O:Jntinued Jrom previous page) j are hung in strands attached with a with her all the time and is a devoted (( 'yclc ofU/b: Continued Jinm previous page) .I sticky secretion to rocks on the sea mother. Like the rest of the natural world, 1995 Animal Appeal floor. The female guards her eggs, has a single baby (twins are rare) after The Utica Zoo has also lh · cycle of life continues here at the zoo The Utica Zoological Society would like to extend their gratitude to chasing off would-be predators. The a 13-month pregnancy. When the baby successfully bred green tree pythons just as it does in nature. A spring visit the following individuals and businesses who have eggs hatch 6-7 months later, and the ( Chondropython viridis) recently, is born, its coat has a pattern similar to will reveal new plants and anin1als, a new contributed to the 1995 Animal Appeal babies begin feeding mainly on krill another endangered species. We that of a watermelon. This striped ·ommittment to our role in providing a (Tilis is just a partial list. More names will be in the July/Aug edition of Zoo News.) (a microscopic marine animal) and obtained a male from the Rio Grande · mfortable home for our anin1al friends, pattern helps camouflage the baby in tiny bits of food floating in the water Michael Austin Matthew & Patricia Bohn Zoo on a breeding loan. A nest box nnd a safe and educational visit for our the forest and protect it from jaguars, that other animals have dropped. Ms. Mary Santello Brian B. Butts was placed in the exhibit and the visit r . (This spring also be on the look­ their major predator. The fuzzy-striped After they hatch, the mother Alan Swierczek Hon. Richard J. Cardamone female laid 16 eggs in it. The exact out for a baby muntjac in the Children's baby fur vanishes as the youngster abandons them, and they are on their date the eggs were laid is not known, z .) Beth Clohecy Mrs. Morag Galloway reaches adulthood and is replaced by own. because in order to check the nest box Fred & Jeanne DeiGenio McQuade & Bannigan, Inc. Peter Earle Kyle & Bonnie Sawyer tough skin that is only sparsely covered Not too many years ago, it would have been necessary to disturb Richard & Ruth McMahon Basloe, Levin & Cuccaro, Ltd. with hair. z all over the world used to take the female every day. On January 29 Mr. & Mrs. Frank DuRoss Holland Farms Bakery & Deli animals directly from the wild to use this year, a tiny yellow baby was seen With a two-foot long tongue Andrew & Edith Peterson Mr. & Mrs. Victor Klinge as breeding tock or to replace and a cone-shaped head, the giant poking its head out of the nest box! The Norman Siegel Pennysaver, Oneida Madison, Inc. ani1~1als that died. It wa · quickly babies arc bright yellow with dark anteater from South America is one of Mr. & Mrs. Richard Vernold Ann P. Allen realtzcd that if this practice sp I at birth, and change to a rich the most unusual looking animals Mr. & Mrs. John T. Wolff Ms. Adele S. Mazloom continued, the wild animal green as they mature. The female was anywhere on earth. As a member in Dr. & Mrs. Richard Silverman Mrs. Agnes B. Harding populations would di appear "I he rem ved and the babies were counted Frank & Barbara Delaus, Sr. Dr. Cophelia Pertz good standing of the ''toothless ffn 01( e/nofty, Species urvival Plan (. P) wa and hand-fi d liny "pinkies" (newborn Camille & Gary Kahler Fuji Bank, Ltd. mammal group", the cdentates, the founded with the sole purpose of baby mice). Eleven of the babies have ftj • .ff'1tene of'ieoah Paul & Carolyn Stratton giant anteater is adapted to a diet of protecting endangered species. survived so far, and once the weather insects that do not require chewing. Based on data collected from field warms up, the male will be returned to investigators and zoo personnel, a the Rio Grande Zoo. Nature has provided the anteater with We were saddened to learn that a special tools that help it search for its count of the most severely endangered and threatened species i(G)rcle ofLife: Co1ttiJ1ued on next page) good friend passed away recently. Irene prey: a highly sensitive nose for was compiled. Through captive Niebuhr loved animals and children and sniffing out prey, muscular legs and breeding programs overseen by SSP, often visited the zoo. She was an "Adoptive sharp claws for breaking open anthills zoos and aquariums throughout the Parent" to zoo animals and contributed in Tt.ffany Smitfi and rotting logs, and a long sticky world began to breed animals in many ways to animal conservation, both )rootC1?rocessor tongue for lapping up some 30,000 captivity, not only to maintain through educating her children and insects every day! Anteaters cat genetic diversity, but also to grandchildren by teaching them to love and t]{p,tfi ~eomans termites as well as ants, larvae and eliminate the need to capture animal Imagine our delight this respect nature, and in a more direct way by Cfiar{es We6ster contributing to animal conservation causes. Office Sttpp{ies beetles, and obtain their water by from the wild. To avoid the winter when a Cooper's hawk took up 17ft. CUprigfit )rreezer possibility of inbreeding, animal, residence on the z. grounds. It all Sometimes her kind heart went to extremes licking plants wet with dew or rain.