Today's awwww

Chengdu, China, July 28, 2008 — One of four giant panda cubs born within 14 hours of each other stretches at the Chengdu Panda Breeding Research Center in Sichuan Province.

Photo: Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images

Video: Panda Cub, run and play with Mommy

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(via Critter News)

Video: Pandas Make You Smile

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(via Cute Overload)

Snow much fun!

Su Lin, a 2-year-old giant panda at the San Diego Zoo, enjoyed the cool feel of snow on an unusually hot day in San Diego on April 27, 2008. The San Diego Zoo's Giant Panda Research Station was covered in 15 tons of snow on Sunday. In two weeks, on May 10, the Zoo's polar bear exhibit will be blanketed with snow as part of Bear Awareness Days, presented by Mission Federal Credit Union. The fun and educational four-day event discusses bear conservation efforts.
(UPI Photo/Ken Bohn/San Diego Zoo)

Animals on the attack

*****A martial arts teacher knocked over by a lion during a photo shoot at Bowmanville Zoo says she is happy to have come away with four broken ribs and a bloodied lung.

The photo session produced a successful cover photo, but from the beginning, the lion was playful and not entirely under the control of its two minders. Watch video.
(thestar.com)

***** A keeper at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C, was taken to a hospital and treated for a laceration on her leg after Tai Shan, the zoo's giant panda cub, made "physical contact" with her. It seems the panda had amorous intentions - the keeper was not in the mood. (via)
(Washington Post)

***** An eagle ray leaped onto a boat off the Florida Keys and stabbed a woman with its barb, knocking her to the deck and killing her. The animal's barb had impaled the woman through the neck which caused her to fall back and hit her head on some portion of the boat.
(New Zealand Herald)

***** Chicago car dealers report they've seen a lot more vehicles damaged this year by animals getting under hoods and chewing on wiring. The culprits are typically squirrels, rats or mice. Whether they're taking shelter from the cold or chewing out of hunger, they can cause thousands of dollars in damages.
(Sun-Times)

***** Rats are invading Thailand - or at least the offices of the ministry responsible for promoting health and hygiene. In the past two days, nearly 50 rats were caught inside the Health Ministry compound in Bangkok, prompting an announcement of a national anti-rodent campaign. The animals have become a nuisance. They bite wires, cables, documents and destroy office equipment.
(AP)

***** Four steer who escaped from a transport truck during a morning accident made their way to a residential area in Mississauga, Ont. and held the community hostage for nearly four hours.

One steer was eventually shot after it knocked a couple of residents off their feet and charged a police officer.
(ctv.ca)

I disagree

Robert at Environmental Graffiti is way off base! He has selected five totally cute, harmless and totally lovable baby animals and has accused them of being ugly.

Ugly?

Shar-Pei Puppies?

Look at those floppy little folded ears. Look at that smooshed little nose, those stubby little paws, those squinty, sad little eyes. Look at those soft, puffy wrinkles. Who in their right mind would call this ugly? Even Robert wouldn't sink this low.

Ugly?

A baby sloth?

So what's not to love with this little guy? Smooth, blond hair - sweet little eyes, fuzzy little curled feet. A cute button nose. Totally adorable!

Ugly?

Baby Pandas?

This I don't even have to defend, do I? Everybody in the universe knows that pandas are the most irresistibly adorable creatures ever created. What a travesty to even think "panda" and "ugly" on the same day.

Ugly?

Naked Mole Rats?

Oh, naked mole rats, these poor little things. Always maligned, always made fun of, always pointed to as a perfect example of ugliness. Don't they look scrumptious? A little tomato sauce, and lunch is served.

Ugly?

Robin chicks?

Robert says baby robins are gross and disgusting. That's because Robert has never observed a robin's nest and taken a photo each day and waited eagerly for those beautiful little blue eggs to hatch. I have.

Ugly?

Baby hedgehogs?

I love the translucent teensy nails. The pink wrinkly skin looks so soft and silky but then juxtapose those dangerous looking quills. Here's the thing: baby hedgehogs are dangerously cute!

Photo 1: Lauren's Shar-pei
Photo 2: Carlen Altman
Photo 3: the Cute Project
Photo 4: verabee
Photo 5: The robin's nest
Photo 6: Dark Roasted Blend

Brooklyn welcomes rare red panda Mao Mi

All the other animals must be green with envy.

The one getting the most attention at Brooklyn's Prospect Park Zoo these days is Mao Mi, a rare red panda that just arrived from his former home at Michigan's Binder Park Zoo.

Red pandas are endangered, and Mao Mi is part of a Wildlife Conservation Society breeding program that's trying to ensure the survival of threatened or endangered species.

Mao Mi has black legs, a furry reddish-brown face and body and white ears.

Prospect Park zookeepers said Thursday that their cuddly cutie is very playful and loves to climb trees and explore his new home.

Source: Yahoo News

Baby Panda in Vienna

The first baby panda to be born in Europe in a quarter of a century has made his first public appearance.

Vienna Zoo's panda baby, Fu Long, has until now spent all his time with his over protective mother Yang Yang.

The zoo hopes that Fu Long will make more excursions into public view now he has taken the first step.

Source: Ananova

Video: Baby Pandas Wrestling

(via)

Video: Kissing Pandas

(via)

Panda Love

Photo:Yuriko Nakao / Reuters

Cute and cuddly

This seven-week-old panda cub has become one of San Diego Zoo's most famous babes, though she is yet to be named.

In accordance with Chinese tradition, she will have to wait until November, when she is 100 days old, to receive her name.

San Diego Zoo's giant panda breeding project has been one of the most successful in the world. The zoo has the largest population of giant pandas outside China.

Giant pandas are one of the world's most endangered species, with only about 2000 living in the wild.

Surprise! Giant panda gives birth in Austria

In this photo taken by a surveillance camera and released by the Schoenbrunn zoo in Vienna, female panda Yang Yang holds her newborn baby in her mouth. For the next two or three month Yang Yang and her baby will spend in the enclosed area where she gave birth.

A giant panda on loan from China gave her Austrian zookeepers a surprise Thursday: the first panda cub born in Europe in 25 years.

Caretakers at the Schoenbrunn Zoo detected the cub on a surveillance camera after hearing little squeals coming from an enclosed compound where the mother, Yang Yang, had retreated. Zookeepers had not been certain Yang Yang was pregnant.

A photograph released by the zoo showed Yang Yang, a first-time mother, holding the tiny creature in her mouth and looking up toward the camera.

(via)

Cute Panda?

A panda at a zoo in northwestern China, unimpressed with the food offered at his new lodgings, erupted with rage and sunk his teeth into a staff member's flesh instead.

Lan Zai, a male panda at Wuquanshan zoo in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province, put zoo worker Xiao Zhang in hospital with multiple bite and scratch wounds to his arms and legs after a fierce attack

(AP Photo/EyePress)

Video: Panda Escape

An escaping panda is caught on video. (Turn down your volume.)

(via)

U.S.-born panda finds double happiness in China

A U.S.-born giant panda has given birth to twin cubs in a research center in southwest China, state media reported on Tuesday, its third pair of twins so far.

Eight-year-old Huamei, whose name means "China America," gave birth to the first cub at Sichuan province's Wolong Nature Reserve early on Monday, Xinhua news agency said.

The second, a male weighing 129.8 grams, came three hours later.

The first cub's gender and weight have yet to be established, but both the cubs and mother were doing well, Xinhua quoted Li Desheng, vice-director of the reserve's research centre, as saying.

The cubs are the third pair delivered by Huamei, who gave birth to twins in 2004 and 2005 since returning to the motherland in February 2004, the agency said.

Huamei is the first giant panda to have been born and survived in the western hemisphere since 1990, Xinhua said.

Rare red pandas born at Edmonton Zoo

Zookeepers across the continent are celebrating the birth of two extremely rare red pandas at Edmonton's Valley Zoo.

The cubs, which were born at 3:26 a.m. Tuesday, are part of a very small population of red pandas in the world. It's estimated that there are fewer than 2,500 red pandas alive in the wild because the animals' natural habitat in China, India and Nepal is being destroyed.

Forty red pandas are being raised in zoos. The Valley Zoo has joined an international breeding program in an effort to keep the species alive.

Currently, the cubs are being kept away from the parents because the mother, Lala, was over grooming them and causing lacerations.

Meet the original Firefox

The real fire fox in nature is actually called Red Panda, Ailurus fulgens, an endangered species. It is is a mostly herbivorous mammal, slightly larger than a domestic cat (55 cm long). This red panda has semi-retractile claws and, like the Giant Panda, has a "false thumb" which is really an extension of the wrist bone. Thick fur on the soles of the feet offers protection from cold and hides scent glands. The Red Panda is native to the Himalayas in India and Nepal and southern China.

Red Panda Escapes From Zoo Exhibit Again

Virginia Zoo officials on Monday began trimming the landscaping around a new red panda exhibit after the animal escaped for the second time in less than a month.

Yin, a 1-year-old that resembles a raccoon with red, white and black fur, was discovered missing from her exhibit Saturday. On June 21, Yin made visitors wait two hours until she emerged from her habitat for her debut only to escape into a nearby tree.

"She's just testing every limit that might be in the exhibit," zoo director Greg Bockheim said.

After the zoo opened Saturday, zookeepers discovered Yin was missing. They located her near the bison exhibit, then she scampered to a tree near the back of the duck pond. Bockheim climbed about 30 feet up to retrieve her, but Yin scurried down to the zookeepers.

She also was found hiding in a tree near the duck pond after she escaped the first time.

"She's a character," said Alison Till, the zoo's director of development.

How and why she escaped from her habitat, which includes an air-conditioned bamboo hut and logs for climbing, is unclear.

Evolution of a new born Panda

Follow the development of a Panda, from birth to 3 months, in photos.