krazy kat's korner

Just after Christmas last year, mum spotted some Tawny Frogmouths (related to owls) in a tree two doors down from our house. During the day they roost in a tree (hunt at night) and are very hard to spot because of their camouflage. I've never seen one in the wild before this, and there were four!

( birdies! )

IT'S a face few people could resist, but this rare monkey was rejected by her distressed mother within minutes of her birth.

Elke was born in Taronga Zoo last Thursday to two francois langur monkeys, brought here five years ago in an effort to increase numbers of the endangered species. But the first-time mother Saigon and the father Hanoi abandoned the infant immediately.

Tiny Elke, a five-day-old critically endangered monkey, has been rejected by her parents at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

"The baby was just lying on the ground and the parents were quite scared," said the senior primate keeper, Mandy McLellan. "It is quite common for first-time mums in primate species to reject their first infant. That just comes down to lack of experience; the first one's a bit of a shock. [Saigon] hasn't had a lot of exposure to other mothers and their babies."

The tiny monkey is now being cared for by her "adoptive mothers", the primate keepers, who must give her a bottle of formula milk every three hours.

The francois langurs, a critically endangered species native to South-Eastern Asia, are usually born into "harem" environments, where multiple mothers and babies live with the one father.

The need to attract the mothers' attention in such a group is thought to be the reason why infants like Elke are born with apricot-coloured fur around their faces.

"They think the bright orange colour is to attract attention to itself in the group, so that the mothers will get excited over it, will be able to identify it easily and to incite them to want to pick it up," Ms McLellan said.

The primate keepers have started to slowly reintroduce the inquisitive baby to its parents.

There are thought to be as few as 1000 of the animals left in the wild so breeding programs are vital. "Hopefully next time it won't be such a shock," Ms McLellan said.

There's also video here.

Twin snow leopards at Taronga Zoo, Sydney.



More photos available here.

From SMH:



Cute as a button, this baby male gorilla was delivered by caesarean yesterday at a zoo in Florida, in the US.

Vets decided to perform the surgery after an examination of the mother raised concerns about her baby's welfare.

Gorilla caesareans have become more common at zoos in the past six years, as keepers try to increase the number that survive birth. Forty per cent of gorillas die at birth or in infancy.

Florida's newest baby gorilla is being cared for by staff at the Busch Gardens zoological hospital until he can be reintroduced to his mother. He has yet to be given a name.

He will be totally dependent on his mother for several months, but like all baby gorillas will grow and develop physical skills twice as fast as a human baby.


And I think, how can anyone look at this and dismiss evolution ;)

Nearly 48 hours ago in Sydney, there was subsidence in a section of the Lane Cove Tunnel construction, which lead to a large hole forming below an apartment block. This hole has finally been filled with concrete (took well over a day and hundreds of trucks).



The entire complex was evacuated, though it is the front lot (3 storey) that's the dangerous part. Residents of the back apartments will be allowed back in tomorrow to retrieve belongings and apparently rescue personnel will be going into the three flats next to the one shown. But the one shown, which finally lost its balcony and front room late yesterday, and the two above it are still too dangerous for anyone to enter.



There was only one pet in the whole of the complex, a baby cockateil called Tweety. And the poor little birdy is stuck on the top floor above the hole. And the story has become: can Tweety be rescued (if still alive, was being handfed)?

Ray Martin questioned the cop in charge tonight, he said they're looking at sending the rescue unit robots into the barred apartments tomorrow, and they will see if Tweety's alive and then hopefully, use the robot to bring the cage out.

So please have a little prayer for Tweety and the robot.

I just don't know what to say about the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. Makes me cry watching the reports.

And angry, as it seems that mandatory evacuation was only if you had private transportation and enough money to be able to leave. The poor/disabled/elderly were essentially left to sink. Wasn't there some form of mass transportation available?

***

Need a little bit of hope/cuteness: here's Petra, a baby yellow-footed rock wallaby at Taronga Zoo.



More of her friends here,and a gorgeous video that will have you making squeaking sounds (watch Petra shake herself and nearly fall over, watch Petra demand her close up) here.