Patience has paid off for fans at Zoo Antwerp. The lion cub born there on 29 August made its public debut this week. The cub spent the first month of its life indoors with its mother, Maouli, but is now enjoying time in an outdoor pen where it can be seen by visitors — via ZooBorns
The largest Giant Anteater group in the United States, located at the Nashville Zoo, just got a little bigger with the birth of a male baby on 19 September. The pup brings the total number of Giant Anteaters at the zoo to 12 — via ZooBorns
A turquoise octopus with light blue-green spots. This little charm is handmade out of polymer clay and comes on a black cell phone strap — via Etsy
Keepers at The Netherlands’ Burgers Zoo were surprised by the early birth of a baby White Rhino. 12-year-old female, Kwanzaa, and her new calf Vince are stable and healthy, according to zoo officials. Of the five rhino species in existence, White Rhinoceros are the most social. They are listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List — via ZooBorns
Red and grey tentacles wrap mysteriously around the front and back of this super comfy tee. This unique design couldn’t be more awesome and is sure to turn heads — via Shanalogic
A trick of the light evolved by silvery fish to avoid predators could help improve optical devices like LEDs, according to a study in Nature Photonics.
While polarisation has many applications in photonics, non-polarising devices are also important. The research – abstract here — took a look at how fish such as sardines and herring reflect light without polarising it.
PhD student Tom Jordan from the Bristol Centre for Complexity Sciences, and his supervisors Professor Julian Partridge and Dr Nicholas Roberts in Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences, found that these fish avoid reflecting polarised light by having two types of reflective crystals in their skins.
The crystals are guanine, which as Discovery points out is also a component of guano. A single guanine crystal layer in the scales would polarise the light reflected, which would also dim
the reflected light — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Paignton Zoo‘s Red Panda cubs are starting to venture out of their den! The female cubs were born on July 9th. Here they are being checked over by the zoo’s veterinary team — via ZooBorns
Only 15 months ago, Zoo Tel Aviv‘s 7-year-old Tapir mother gave birth to her first calf. Now the zoo is celebrating the arrival of its first male ever male calf. The spotted bundle of joy weighs only 11 pounds and has already begun to explore his exhibit. Now experienced mother Passiflora has demonstrated outstanding mothering skills, but to ensure that her baby gets enough milk, keepers coax her to lie on her side with belly rubs. Father Tapiro is spending these first days separated from mum and her calf to allow them a stress free bonding period — via ZooBorns
— via Society6
Born on 2 October at Zoos South Australia’s Monarto Zoo, this female Southern White Rhinoceros baby is significant to the regional population of the species. Parents Uhura and Satara have bred successfully before, producing two male calves — Watoto, in 2005 and, Jubari, in 2007 — via ZooBorns
2 inches across and comes with a fancy adjustable necklace. I’ve made these so the cord can easily slip between the head and back tentacles. There are no gaps for the cord to slip through so don’t worry about it falling off — via Etsy
Spider silk is pretty amazing stuff. Pound for pound, it’s as strong as steel and more durable than Kevlar. It can be stretched to incredible lengths, but it’s no more cumbersome than cotton or nylon. Because it’s so awesome, scientists have long been searching for good ways to synthesize the stuff (it’s not exactly easy to milk spiders in any meaningful quantity), and they’ve made some good progress. Thanks to the latest work from biomedical engineer Fiorenzo Omenetto of Tufts University in Boston and Nolwenn Huby from the CNRS Institut de Physiques de Rennes in France, they’ll have a little extra motivation to get it done soon.
Omenetto and Huby are both presenting their work on Monday at a conference in Rochester, New York. It’s hard to tell who’s more impressive. Omenetto’s team is developing silk-based materials that look and act like plastic, but because of their unique chemical makeup, are completely and safely biodegradable. That means they could build special microchips that could be implanted inside of the body to serve a particular purpose and simply dissolve when the job’s done. A broken bone, for instance. Doctors might not be completely sure when the bone will be healed could theoretically implant one of their spider silk microchips onto the bone to monitor the progress, and it would simply disappear when everything is back to normal — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Dumai, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium‘s Sumatran Tiger cub, is getting a new buddy. Meet Berani, a 5-week-old Malayan male cub scheduled to arrive at Point Defiance this week from Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum. Each was the only cub in a litter and pulled from mum within days of birth because the tiny Tigers were not thriving. Once Berani arrives and is checked out, you will be able to see him in the cub den playing and pouncing with Dumai — via ZooBorns
The Zoological Society of London’s Whipsnade Zoo is getting a glimpse of their Red Panda twins for the first time since they were born in June. The girls, named Yin and Yang, have stayed close to first-time mum, Tashi, for the last few months, and are only now beginning to take tentative steps to explore their surroundings — via ZooBorns
This green and blue squid needs a new home! With his long feeder arms, he’s great for giving hugs, grabbing beers, and stealing cookies — via Etsy
Brushed stainless steel earring measure 25mm at widest point and 0.3mm thick. Octopuses are attached to surgical steel posts with a strong adhesive. Titanium butterfly backs are included. Please handle the intricate tentacles with care — via Etsy
The Berlin Zoo is celebrating the first birth of Rusty-Spotted Cats in its 168-year history. Rusty-Spotted Cats are the world’s smallest wild cats, weighing only 0.9 to 1.6kg as adults.
The two kittens were born on 5 August and have only recently begun to leave their den to explore their exhibit. Playful, clumsy, and a little awkward, the two female youngsters are a delight to zoo guests. At birth, kittens typically weigh just 60-77g.
— via ZooBorns
Edinburgh Zoo‘s Oriental Small-clawed Otters welcomed five newborns to the raft in July this year — and now the 10 week old pups have started venturing out and about in their enclosure. The quintuplets were born to mum Elena and dad Ray — their third litter since arriving at the Zoo, making them experts when it comes to rearing pups. The youngsters have only recently started to explore their new surroundings under the watchful eyes of their older sisters, Eliza and Aisha, and of course their protective parents. Keepers have sexed the 10 week olds as three females and two males, who have yet to be named — via ZooBorns
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