Up Close and Personal at the Taronga Zoo

Above are a few pics of a friend of mine who worked briefly at the famous Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia.

She’s a vet, and was fortunate enough to spend a bit of time in Sydney working with a slew of different zoo animals including bears and tigers.

The pictures above give you an idea of what vets working at zoos do when the animals get sick or need special care.

Luckily, both animals were sedated so she was able to get an up close and personal look at both these amazing species.

Most people only dream to see these animals, let alone operate on and care for them.

Tiger Piglets

In another pig-related post, we see a Tiger mom nursing a bevy of little piglets in a Thai zoo.

The Sriracha Zoo, 50 miles east of the Thai capital Bangkok, recently created a program teaching domestic animals, such as pigs, to get along with wild animals, such as tigers, as a means to boost visits to the zoo.

The end result has been largely effective, with pictures like the one above showing the relative harmony these two very unlike species have etched out for themselves.

The program also has mother pigs, also known as “sows” nursing tiger cubs at a very young age.

Not only is the practice great for tourism, but it may come in handy if any complications leave a cub or piglet without a mother in the future.

Giant Panda Baby

ChinaDaily.com.cn released some amazing pictures of a baby giant panda bear born on September 22, 2006 courtesy of The Research and Conservation Center for Giant Panda.

The cub is referred to as “Giant panda cub no. 17″ on the website, and a link on the site asks you to name the panda, though it’s not known if this is official or just a public opinion poll.

Either way, the picture of this little girl at three months old is amazing.  They don’t stay small for long though.

Tiger Triplets Nursed by Dog in China Zoo

After being rejected by their own mother, three tigers settled for a substitute, a mixed breed farm dog named “Huani”.

At the Paomaling Zoo in Jinan, the capital of East China’s Shandong Province, the three tiger cubs were pictured nursing from their interim mother, and are expected to do so for another month.

Oddly enough, Paomaling manager Chen Yucai said it was fairly common to use dogs as surrogate mothers for rejected tiger cubs, and that Huani herself had nursed tigers in the past.

In the past zoo workers would place a small amount of the dogs’ urine on the tiger cubs’ fur to coax the mother into thinking the cubs were her own, but in this case it wasn’t necessary.

Huani seems to be a perfect fit, and didn’t mind taking on the new cubs.

“The family is getting along well and seems to enjoy each other,” Chen said.

The only problem now is giving the tiger cubs new names.  They currently go by the names, “One”, “Two”, and “Three”.