#endangered

#endangered

New Red Panda is a Miracle BirthParadise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire, UK, welcomed the birth of a new red panda in July. This is a cause for celebration, as the endangered red panda is numbered at less than 2,500 specimens in the wild. But this one is extra special due to the circumstances of its birth. The cub was born to red panda Tilly and her partner Nam Pang. They were matched by an international breeding program, but failed to produce a cub in four years. Nam Pang died in June. Zookeepers were devastated, but within a couple of weeks noticed that Tilly has started nesting behavior. On July 16, a month after Nam Pang's passing, she gave birth to his only offspring. The new cub's gender is yet unknown, and it will not be named until it is old enough for a veterinary checkup. The red panda cub will not be shown to the public until the fall. -via Fark#redpanda #zoobirth #endangered

Ever Heard of a Bettong? They are "Ecosystem Engineers"A bettong may resemble a rodent, but they are one of the many marsupials that call Australia home. While it can be hard for an outsider to identify a bettong among the dunnarts, pygmy possums, bilbys, stick-nest rats, woylies, brown antechinus, honey possums, red-tailed phascogales, numbats, quolls, bandicoots, bush rats, nailtailed wallabies, and other Aussie critters, they have a unique niche. Bettongs are fungivores, and eat mainly truffles. They are important for controlling and dispersing truffles and related species through the Australian forests. The species called the northern bettong is critically endangered. There are only two known colonies of northern bettong, and one of them has only about 50 individuals left (the other has between 700 and 1000). The smaller colony appears to be reproducing at a much lower level than normal. Northern bettongs are suffering from several environmental stresses: competition from pigs that also eat truffles, predation by feral cats, invasive weeds, and of course wildfires. Read about the plight of the northern bettong at Atlas Obscura.#bettong #Australia #endangered  

Cute Baby Southern White Rhino Takes its First Steps into the Outside WorldSouthern white rhinos are the second largest land mammals on Earth and are quite formidable, but their cubs are some of the cutest things you’ll ever see.Meet Nandi, the baby rhino who took her first breath of life at the ZSL Whipsnade Zoo on August 21st. For the first couple of weeks, Nandi stayed closely with her mom Tuli at the indoor area of their enclosure, taking her time and getting used to her big and rubbery feet. On September 6th, zookeepers felt that it was finally time for Nandi to take her first venture into the outside world and meet the rest of the herd (also called a “crash”) as well as explore the other parts of their 18-acre enclosure. This cute and healthy baby rhino is celebrated as an addition to the European Endangered species breeding program. Southern white rhinos are considered to be a threatened species, with only around 10,000 of them left remaining in the wild.Images & videos: ZSL Whipsnade Zoo#SouthernWhiteRhino #zoo #ZSLWhipsnadeZoo #endangered #threatenedspecies