Niu-li, the baby orangutan, was born on the 11th of April 2012 at Taipei Zoo. She is named after her mother, Xiang-niu. Her father, Eddie, would often stare at his wife and daughter from the adjacent enclosure. Speaking of Xiang-niu, she is a loving orangutan who always holds her baby tenderly. However, her lack of lactation had caused unsuccessful nursing for her previous two babies. Therefore, after two days of observation, the keepers decided to hand-rear the baby.

Although orangutans look highly similar to human beings, nursing a 1.42 kg orangutan baby is still no easy task. Keepers have to feed on the baby five times a day, and there was no exception even during the small hours. “Fortunately, Niu-li is a well-behaved baby. She manages to drink 65c.c. of milk promptly every time,” said one of the zoo keepers. Niu-li has been under the keepers’ 24-hour good care. They have also recorded her development as follows:

• One month old: Tried to do a push up and lift her head up.
• Around three months old: Showed her lower front teeth when she smiled.
• Four months old: Began to eat non-staple food such as juice and fruit pulp.
• Around five months old: Grew her upper front teeth and loved to grind her teeth on carrots and apples. She received a pomelo on the Mid-autumn Festival.
• Six months old: Began to take in diverse vegetables and fruits in her daily diet. She got her first jack-o-lantern on Holloween.
• Eight months old: Has grown into a long hair flowing beauty.
• One year old: Has become a good tree climber and weights over 6 kg.
• Taipei Zoo has shared the cherished moment on Taipei Zoo YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY_ix7dioKQ

Niu-li is curious about new things at present, but stays close to her keeper in unfamiliar environments. Female orangutans invest a lot of time with their offspring, taking care of them until they reach adolescence at around 6 years of age. However, the orangutans in the wild are facing a number of threats, including the degradation, fragmentation and exploitation of their habitats, which are happening very quickly. So while the zoo keepers take good care of our little orangutan, let us support the conservation of rainforests in order to help the conservation of orangutans in the wild.

Profiles
Common name: Bornean orangutan
Scientific name: Pongo pygmaeus
Classification: Class Mammalia, Order Primates, Family Hominidae
Conservation status: CITES - Appendix I, IUCN - Endangered
Distribution: Borneo
Food habits:
Omnivorous, but primarily eat fruits. Fruits make up more than 60% of their total dietary intake; they will migrate depending on fruit availability.
Exposition:
1. The word “orangutan” comes from Malay and means “person of the forest.”
2. The gestation period of Bornean orangutan is about eight to nine months.

The white rhinoceroses are the largest species of land mammals after African and Asian elephants. Both white rhinos and elephants have long gestation periods. The gestation period of the white rhinos is approximately 16 to 18 months, while the elephants take 22 to 24 months. In order to predict the delivery time more accurately, Taipei Zoo had been monitoring the changes in mother white rhinoceros’s hormones in stool, and other biological data.

On the day the mother white rhino, Xi-Chun, gave birth to her calf, the zoo keepers witnessed the mother beginning to secrete milk in the delivery room. The floor of the room was pre-covered by soft sawdust for her and her baby. Before Xi-Chun gave birth to the calf, she had begun to walk around constantly from 5:40 p.m. After a period of time waiting, the forefoot of the calf appeared at 7:02 p.m. Then the whole body of the calf slid out at 7:13 p.m. It is the first time for Xi-Chun to become a mother, but she has done well in nursing her baby. She is alert whenever a stranger is nearby. She even refused the keepers offering her a back massage with the long-handled brushes which was her favorite treatment.

The baby of Xi-Chun is the second white rhino born in Taipei Zoo. It has been twenty-six years since the first rhino calf, Xei-Hui, was born at Taipei Zoo in 1987. The birth of Xi-Chun’s calf is truly pleasant, warm news in the Chinese New Year. If the weather is good in the coming days, the Zoo will consider introducing the calf to the public. Before the calf shows up at the outdoor enclosure, the keepers will copy their observation diary on the white board beside the white rhino’s enclosure.

Profiles
Common name: White rhinoceros, Square-lipped rhinoceros
Scientific name: Ceratotherium simum
Classification: Class Mammalia, Order Perissodactyla, Family Rhinocerotidae
Conservation status: CITES - Appendix I, IUCN - Near Threatened
Distribution: Africa
Food habits: Herbivorous
Physical Description: The white rhinoceros is the largest species of land mammal after the elephant. Their head and body lengths are about 335-420 cm, shoulder heights 150-185 cm and a tail of 50-70 cm. They are 1440 to 3600 kg in weight. Males are larger than females. They are usually light gray to dark yellow.

The mother bactrian camel, Mei-yan, gave birth to Yan-yu on May 10, 2012. Right after she was born, the keepers and the veterinarians found the newborn calf had a forelimb problem and was unable to stand up by herself; thus, it was decided that the zoo keepers would nurse the calf instead of her mother doing so. Fortunately, after a few months' care and training, Yan-yu is now able to walk by herself from the animal nursery room in the Animal Medical Center to the Children’s Zoo Area.

On the day that Yan-yu moved from the Animal Medical Center to the Children’s Zoo Area, the zoo keepers led the calf by a target stick, which has been used in her daily training. Yan-yu walked all the way on her own feet and even stopped to drink 1800c.c. of milk midway. Yan-yu is now the new neighbor of alpacas and donkeys in the Children's Zoo Area at Taipei Zoo.

These two wolves came from Moscow Zoo, which has been an animal exchange partner of Taipei Zoo since 1993. After the quarantine, the wolves have now adapted to the environment and zoo keepers in Taipei Zoo.

Beauty (female) and Beast (male) curiously explored their new home after they arrived. Beauty adapted quickly to her new home. In contrast, Beast is more sensitive to noises, and hides from people.

In order to help Beauty and Beast to gradually get used to their new home and feel comfortable moving around and resting, we kindly ask that you lower your voices when visiting them, to avoid scaring them.

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Profile

Common name: Wolf
Scientific name: Canis lupus
Classification: Class Mammalia, Order Carnivora, Family Canidae
Distribution: Asia, Europe and North America
Conservation status: CITES Appendix II
Diet: Carnivorous
Behavior: Highly social with a strong hierarchy. They have excellent vision, olfaction and hearing. They use body language, facial expressions, scent and vocalizations to communicate with each other.

There are up to six distinct species of flamingos in the world and all of them belong to the family Phoenicopteridae, order Phoenicopteriformes. They are covered by feathers ranging from pink to white in color. Flamingos have webbed feet and arcuate bills. Their legs are pink or grey, and some with pink joints. Flamingos feed on plankton and algae. They become territorial in the breeding season.

On the other hand, Grus japonens is the only red-crowned crane in the world, it belongs to family Gruidae, order Gruiformes. Adult red-crowned cranes are about 150 cm in height and show strong territoriality. They have snow white feathers, blackish tips of the wings and necks, and a patch of red skin on the crown. Red-crowned cranes are omnivores and often forage for insects, shrimp, fish and the roots or stems of plants in marsh or wide grassland.

Spotted hyenas are very vocal animals which produce a number of different calls. A kind of their voices is pretty much like human’s laughter. This is the reason why the spotted hyenas are also known as laughing hyenas. Spotted hyenas are neither cats nor dogs. They are the carnivorous mammal of the family Hyaenidae. Spotted hyenas and lions are both apex predators in Africa. In areas where the two species are sympatric, occupy the same ecological niches, are thus frequently clash with one another over the competition for food and territory.

There are two spotted hyenas in Taipei Zoo. The name of the female spotted hyena is Xiao-guai, which means “well-behaved” in Chinese. And the name of the male spotted hyena is Xiao-bai, which means “the white” in Chinese. Spotted hyenas are nocturnal animals. If you are able to see them in the daytime, then you must be a very lucky person.

Those new members at Taipei Zoo came from Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, Australia. Australia is a country in the Southern Hemisphere and the spring season there is from September to November. The springtime in Australia, also the autumn in Northern Hemisphere, is the breeding season for koalas.

So when the zoo keepers observed koala Empress and koala Coral in estrus during the quarantine period, they mate koala Coral with koala Flynn in the first place. But it seemed that koala Flynn did not catch koala Coral's eye. Then the keepers decided to mate koala Empress with koala Flynn. Koala Flynn fell in love with koala Empress at first sight. However, the pregnancy period of koalas is approximately 25 to 35 days. Zoo visitors will need to wait patiently to see if koala Empress will give birth to baby koalas at Taipei Zoo.

Taipei zoo is currently keeping eight koalas, including twelve-year-old Pearl, fourteen-year-old Patrick and Patrick’s two sons. The sons of koala Patrick are eight-year-old Q-bi and six-year-old Q-di.

About 150 guests from Hokkaido join the opening ceremony at Taipei Zoo. Jin-pyng Wang, President of the Legislative Yuan of Republic of China, join the opening ceremony as well. He expects the pair of red-crowned cranes will build up the lasting friendship between Taiwan and Hokkaido, just like the symbol of the red-crowned cranes. Guests including Governor Takahashi of Hokkaido , Mayor Ebina of Kushiro City, Director Yamaguchi of Kushiro Zoo and other delegates from Kushiro City. They come to Taipei not only visit the red-crowned crane but also introduce Taiwanese people the wonderful tourism in Hokkaido.

Today Taipei Zoo visitors are able to meet the red-crowned crane, “Big.” Big is a hand-rearing red-crowned crane from Kushiro Zoo, so he is more familiar to human beings. On the other hand, the female crane, Kika, is raised by her biological parents. And due to the better management to her shyness, Taipei Zoo will introduce her to the public until the beginning of 2012.

Though Big has got used to the public, Taipei Zoo would like to call upon visitors to lower down their voice. Because Kika is the neighbor of Big, it is better to leave them a more quiet display area.

Visit information:
From 31 October 2011, the exhibit of the red-crowned crane is at the Cranes Exhibit Area, Bird World, Taipei Zoo. The opening time of the Cranes Exhibit Area is from 9:00a.m. to 4:50p.m. every day.

To enter the exhibit area, Taipei Zoo visitors should draw the crane-visiting ticket (free) at Bird World Square. And the given visiting time will show on each ticket for each person. Visitors are allowed to enter the exhibit every 10 minutes. Every entrance allows 150 people, and 7,050 people are the maximum for a day.

Big and Kika are red-crowned cranes from Kushiro Zoo in Japan. They arrived smoothly in Taipei Zoo at 7:50 p.m. Taipei zoo prepared water, loach and corn with nutritious pellets at the Animal Quarantine Center. After settled down, Kika ate about 10 grams of corn pellets in the first day. And Big had good appetite, he ate 150 grams corn pellets and a loach immediately arrived at the quarantine room. After the long journey, two red-crowned cranes flapped their wings comfortably at their new home. And the veterinarians also observed them standing by one leg when they fell asleep at night.

Taipei Zoo on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/TaipeiZoo

BIG (male)
Studbook number: 10-04
Hatched date: May 28, 2002
Personality: adventurous, strong territoriality
Weight: 7.7 kg

KIKA (female)
Studbook number: 09-177
Hatched date: June 6, 2005
Personality: Shy
Weight: 6.25 kg

In Taiwan, the Flame Gold-rain Tree can be seen on the sides of roads. Whenever its branches are damaged, sap will flow out, which attracts many insects to come and feed on it. In the zoo, commonly seen insects include stag beetles, june beetles, butterflies, wasps, flies, ants, and occasionally longhorn beetles and rhinoceros beetles, and other beetles, which come to feed on the tree.

(Resource from：ZooBorns )

Taipei Zoo on YouTube: Four Little Formosan Wild Boars

The Taipei Zoo hopes that JoJo will find his half apple in the coming mating season, and raise their chicks together. It will increase the genetic diversity of the king penguin group, said zoo director Jason Yeh in a statement.

JoJo likes to swim so much that he jumped into the pool immediately when he arrived the Animal Quarantine Center. He will join the big family after one month quarantine, and visitors will be able to meet him at the Penguin House in Taipei Zoo.

(Resource from:Taiwan News)]]> 2.16.886.101.90003.20002.20005.20003 Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:00:00 GMT 2.16.886.101.90003.20002.20005.20003 http://tcgwww.taipei.gov.tw1765683 2.16.886.101.90003.20002.20005.20003 2.16.886.101.90003.20002.20005.20003 text/html Text 2.16.886.101.90003.20002.20005.20003 en Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:00:00 GMT-Sat, 01 Mar 2014 16:00:00 GMT 2.16.886.101.90003.20002.20005.20003 Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:00:00 GMT 2.16.886.101.90003.20002.20005.20003 410,780 550,556,AX6,DD0,DD1,DD2 380,933 http://tcgwww.taipei.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=1754446&ctNode=10037&mp=104032 There are two Great Argus chicks hatched on February 7 at the Taipei Zoo. The keeper named the chicks as "Lichun"  and "Liqing".

Great Argus is listed in CITES Appendix II. Suffering from the pressure of hunting and habitat loss, the amount of Great Argus keeps decreasing gradually and is estimated about 100,000 mature indiviaduals in the wild, said the zoo director Jason Yeh in a statement.

Great Argus Keeper's Talk

Time: Every Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. from March to April
Visitors interested in great argus please visit them at the Bird World and enjoy the zoo keeper's talk.

The backs of pangolins are covered with scales for protection. They can swim and are good at climbing trees. But they are toothless, so they rely upon their long tongues while eating. The primary diets are ants and termites. Due to its special diet, it is hard to raise in an artificial environment. Fifty years ago, Nuremberg Zoo of Germany raised an African pangolin, but it only lasted for three months. By the 1970s, various zoos around the world have attempted to display pangolins, but finally gave up. In recent years, Taipei Zoo has successfully reproduced pangolins attribute to its research. A pair of pangolins had been sent to Zoo Leipzig, Germany. And with the sustaining technical instruction and exchange, they are in breeding season.

Pangolins are afraid of coldness. They often tremble and sneeze under 25 degrees Celsius. So the zoo keeper planned to shift the mother pangolin to an incubation room for delivery during a cold front in December. However, the keeper found that the baby was already delivered in the hole dug by the mom. The eyes of the baby pangolin were closed, its scales were tender, and it was about 105 grams in weight. The male baby pangolin is named “Changui.”

Changpang, father of Changui, is the first pangolin born at Taipei Zoo in 1997. In 2005, the second pangolin was born, but died after eight months due to weaning. The third pangolin Changbei was born in 2010. And the fourth, Changui, was born on December 9, 2010.

The baby king penguin is 10 kg in weight. It loves to stand in front of the mirror with its family. The baby king penguin will grow new feathers from nine to twelve month old. By then, it will wear its black tuxedo with golden scarf.

Coco is the second-generation king penguin born in Taiwan. When it was young, it always snuggled under parents’ belly. Even after a moment of release, it would still quickly return as encountered the zoo keeper. Now it is too large to hide its body under the parents. It can only stand beside them.

Coco has begun to stay in the display area with the penguin group. Actually, it is getting on well with others. Though Coco has getting older, it is still fed by the parents but not the keepers. It is just the perfect time for those who like to observe how penguins raise their child!

It’s been 24 years since the establishment of the Bird World. Parts of it are in need of renovation. We expect to broaden the living space and to improve welfare of the birds after the work is completed, so as to enhance the viewing enjoyment and observation angles of our visitors.