One of the reasons that Spring is one of my favorite seasons has nothing to do with the return of longer days, or warmer weather, or the flowers blooming, or any of the other things that many people in J-land are wishing and waiting for....
For me, Spring has always meant... BABIES! Even before I started working around exotic animals, I worked with horses. So, come the first week in February, we would begin watching the mares for the impending birth of our next set of Champions.
This year, I am not working with any animals that are about to have babies, but I have alerts set up with several zoos, National Geographic, and AOL News for info on new babies. G. comes home occasionally with news of babies either being born or being expected where he works. The man who boards my horse breeds and trains bird dogs, and he has a set of puppies that are just starting to venture out. On the trip to and from visiting Boo, I am starting to see baby cows and goats and things. Awwwww..... Spring!
In my e-mail this weekend, I noticed two articles about animals being born. What is really wonderful about these births is that both are from animal species that are very endangered.
Sooooo, without further ado, let me introduce you to a couple of adorable new additions to the world!
First is a cute little cheetah cub and his Mommy. This little 10 week old cub is one of a litter of 4 born at the National Zoo on Nov 23. If you live near Washington D.C. and the zoo you can see these little guys! They went on exhibit on the 7th of Feb. The National Zoo has been around for 115 years, and these are the FIRST cheetah cubs born there. See, cheetahs rarely breed in captivity, and they are disappearing in the wild, so the birth of these four little guys is a huge reason to celebrate. According to the article in National Geographic, there are only 260 Cheetahs in North American Zoos, and only about 15,000 in the wild....
Our next little guy was born on Jan 7 and made HIS public debut at the California San Diego Wild Animal Park on Feb 11. He is an Indian rhino, and is being raised by the staff there. Don't you just love his little stuffed Elephant
?? The San Diego Wild Animal Park has had some luck breeding these particular animals, and this little guy is number 46 born there since 1978. According to the article accompanying this picture in National Geographic, these animals have been placed on the endangered species list with only about 2,000 remaining in the wild.
Awwww... Spring! Time of birth and new hope!
Original pictures from National Geographic
22 comments:
Spring...and the birth of babies...now that's something to really celebrate! Thanks for sharing the pics...they are both so darned cute. Makes you want to hug them.
Whew! For a second there, I thought the stuffed elephant was the newborn!
To me, Spring means ONE thing:
Pitchers and Catchers report.
Oh! I cant wait to show these to the kids! thank you. ~Sue
Awwwww How cute is that?!!!
I love babies!!! horns, scales, tails and all!
What a delightful entry! I love babies, too. Penny http://journals.aol.com/firestormkids04/FromHeretoThere.
I saw the cheetah pics on AOL news too! Weren't they adorable??? Such a shame that when it's man against beast, the beasts always lose. They should never get to a point of being endangered. Sheila
I love the baby pictures! Great entry...I'm looking at springtime a little differently now...
Awwww.... what sweet, sweet babies! I love Spring for new babies : ) and for new life all around us! Great entry! (I'm exclamation point crazy today)!!!!!
Tracy
Amazing and absolutely beautiful! The miracle of life always makes me smile and cheers me up. Speaking of babies, I am anxiously awaiting the births of 5 babies to people I know. The excitement is almost to much to stand!
Tammy
Huh, and here I thought Spring was all about marshmallow peeps--I never thought about all the REAL little things being born! Very cute photos. :-) Albert
Awww ... these pictures are so cute. I raised birds for 15 years and when my kids were growing up we had a pet store ... birds, freshwater fish and small animals. I guess I was just making up for not having a lot of pets when I was growing up!
Everybody loves a new born!
*** Coy ***
I love spring, it is a celebration of life! It's always wonderful to hear an endangered species has successfully reproduced!
I know spring is not far away, because both horses shed by the handsful when I groom them. I always thought it would be neat to have a mare around to have foals, but my one experience with a young equine (bought around age six months) was a disaster. I didn't have a clue how to make it be my friend, and we ended up practically giving it away at a horse auction.
Great entry! Yes, spring means new life.... babies!
Awwwww, those guys are so cute!
Ari
thanks for the mention of our brand new cheetah cubs...... we are all delighted at the zoo, and they are bringing lots of visitors! judi
And another awwww, they are so cute! :) ~Dona
Oh how I love the babies. And that Rhino with his little poo-poo elephant is too adorable for words. My favorite part of spring, aside from the blossoming lilacs, is watching the birds as they build their condos in my trees. And the mating rituals. (I don't appreciate blatant sex in my yard at 6 a.m., but that's just me...) I like watching the courtship, knowing that I'm gonna hear the squeaking and squawking of hungry little critters soon. Then I get to watch them learn.
Spring. My favorite season.
~~ jennifer
The pic of the rhino is too cute!! I love it!!
Kasey
http://journals.aol.com/ikoiko33/TheReturnofKaseypalooza
Awwww... that's what comes to mind for me as well about spring. All the little ducklings and baby sheep and, of course, baby cows (I live in cow country, what do you expect?!). And parents coming out to air out the new ones, LoL!!! Oh, I so wish I was a mom, but don't have anybody at the moment. Did you hear about the baby hippo that befriended a tortoise?! I saw a photo of them in the newspaper and it was just too adorable!!! Babies everywhere, the true sign of spring!!!
Blessings,
http://journals.aol.com/glopsblink/ATreasureTroveofGoodies
http://journals.aol.com/glopsey/GlopseysJournalJar
Your pictures are the best! What beautiful animals! :-) I think that is so neat you've been around so many rare and wonderful animals. How lucky you are to follow your bliss and passion! :-)
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