The adorably fluffy Rocky Mountain Goat kid born on May 4 has a name! Meet Blanca, named after Blanca Peak – one of Colorado’s tallest mountains. Blanca is growing in leaps and bounds! The young female goat is incredibly independent and energetic. Wait until you see her version of zoomies! She now weighs nearly 30 pounds, has met the full five-member herd of Rocky Mountain goats at CMZoo, and is even learning to take food from keepers.
Our 10-month-old Nile hippo calf continues to grow and explore alongside his mom, Zambezi. Join Water’s Edge: Africa lead keeper, Philip, for an update on Omo and another milestone we expect Omo to reach soon: the 500-pound mark! We’ll be hosting a fun guessing game for a Zoo prize on our Facebook and Instagram accounts, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, enjoy this yard and poolside check-in with our hippo mom-and-son duo.
There’s a very fluffy, adorably squeaky new kid on the rocks at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Around 3:15 p.m. on Wed., May 4, first-time Rocky Mountain goat mom, Lena, delivered a baby who was on her feet and working out her wobbly legs within minutes.
“Rocky Mountain goat kids are famous for being capable right out of the gate,” said Michelle Salido, lead keeper at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. “They’re native to some pretty demanding habitats, so they have to be hearty to thrive in those elements and that’s what we’re seeing with this little one. She’s getting the hang of her lanky legs, and we’ve already seen her climbing up rocks and on her mom.”
After a short intervention from animal care staff, the baby and mom are bonding well, and guests can see them – as long as they choose to stay visible – in the Rocky Mountain goat habitat.
The animal care team stayed with Lena and her baby through the evening on Wednesday, because they hadn’t seen nursing. The first feeding is really important for a newborn animal, because brand-new mother’s milk contains colostrum, which has important nutrients and antibodies. After about three hours of the kid attempting to nurse unsuccessfully, the team stepped in and hand-fed its first meal.
While feeding the baby a colostrum substitute, the team confirmed that it’s a girl and that she weighs about 8 pounds. After feeding the little one, the team reunited her with her mom and the two have been bonding well since. The baby has been seen nursing consistently since last night, so the team hopes mom and daughter will continue to take it from here.
“It took Lena a little while to get the hang of nursing, which isn’t unusual for a first-time mom, but since then, we’ve seen her really embrace motherhood,” said Salido. “She’s being protective, and she’s letting her daughter snuggle up to her and climb on her. She was really focused on making sure the baby was clean – especially her ears. She was licking the kid’s ears and the baby was making little goat whinnying sounds and wobbling around during the grooming session. They’re so cute.”
Following Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s tradition of not naming baby animals until they’re at least a month old, there are no immediate plans to name the youngster. Fans can follow Lena’s baby as it grows up on the Zoo’s social media channels.
Join our 1-year-old giraffe calf, BB, and her keeper team for two behind-the-scenes training sessions. Our youngest giraffe is working on voluntary husbandry behaviors that allow her team to take the best possible care of her. Watch as BB follows cues and gets positive reinforcement for participating in injection training and voluntary hoof care. Way to go, BB!
Our little hippo calf, Omo, is 9 months old, and he’s outgrown the baby-proofing in his indoor training area! He’s nursing less and eating more solid foods, which are helping him grow up big and strong. He recently weighed in at 435 pounds. That may seem huge to us, but Omo is still just a baby. He lives full-time with his mom, Zambezi, and has been learning to communicate with his aunt, Kasai, and dad, Biko, who live separately in the same habitat, by making little ‘chuffing’ noises. Keepers have seen Omo’s personality continue to get bigger, along with the rest of him. They say he doesn’t just enter a room; he explodes into it. Check in with Omo, his mom, Zambezi, and Water’s Edge: Africa lead keeper, Philip, in this video update.
Get up close for a big lettuce crunch with Omo, CMZoo’s 8-month-old Nile hippo calf. Water’s Edge: Africa lead keeper, Philip, gives us an update on Omo’s latest milestones, including his first steps toward training and more explorations throughout his home.
It has been six months of Omo goodness, so we’re taking a little trip down memory lane AND showing you some new up-close Omo footage. Spoiler alert: incoming Omo window boops.
From watching Zambezi embrace motherhood for the first time with such a gentle nature to seeing Omo wild out in the pools, and every nap, plop and ear wiggle in between, it’s been a joy sharing these two with you all. Happy six-month birthday, Omo!
CMZoo’s four hippos have access to multiple indoor and outdoor climate-controlled pools, grassy yards, a waterfall and indoor land areas, which they take turns sharing. Omo and Zambezi chose to spend time in their privacy pool the other day, and the adorable duo had quite the pool party!
Surveillance camera footage caught 5-month-old Omo jumping, splashing, playing with floating enrichment and climbing on Zambezi. 29-year-old Zambezi, Omo’s mom, gets in on the fun, too, encouraging him to ‘chase’ her in the water and having her own fun with the floaties.
Learn more about Omo here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUd9bK-IbrIMxpwuRlrLaZfU4fFwB9cPG
December was a big month for CMZoo’s smallest hippo. He just broke the 300-pound mark! Five-month-old Omo is consistently eating solid foods now, but he’ll continue nursing for several months to come. He’s also getting more confident, showing he’s comfortable around new enrichment items, like big boxes and boomer balls.
Omo is also meeting his neighbors. Watch as he says hello to common warthogs, Alexander and Penelope, through a fence, and gets nose-to-nose with his aunt, Kasai.
Keepers recently noticed Anja, a 5-month-old ring-tailed lemur pup, appeared to be consistently clenching her hands. The extremely energetic little lemur didn’t appear to be having any mobility issues as a result, but because lemurs use their hands to grip trees and move around, keepers wanted to keep a close eye on her. She was keeping up with her twin brother, Elo, and older half-brother, Maky, just fine.
“Once Anja gained independence and wasn’t spending most of her time clinging to her mom, we noticed she wasn’t opening her hands all the way,” said Grace Sullivan, Water’s Edge: Africa keeper. “She’s constantly leaping around with her brothers, so we’re not concerned about her well-being, but if there’s something we can do now to help her avoid any potential future limitations, of course we want to do that.”
Water’s Edge: Africa keepers and CMZoo’s veterinary staff teamed up to check on little Anja, and didn’t see any injuries or unusual bone structure. There’s no formal diagnosis at this point, but it appears she has tight ligaments.
After consulting with a veterinary sports medicine and rehabilitation specialist, her team built a physical therapy routine for Anja. The routine has similar goals as the exercises prescribed by physical therapists at Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Sports Medicine Center, partners of CMZoo.
“During her therapy, we ask Anja to hold onto a wooden pole and then we turn the pole slightly so her fingers open up,” said Sullivan. “She’s really smart, and she loves the training rewards she receives during the sessions, so she’s usually eager to participate.”
Anja doesn’t appear to experience discomfort during these training sessions and keepers have seen some improvement in her range of motion since starting the therapy in mid-November. Keepers do this behavior with Anja three times a week.
In addition to training, the team added some obstacles to Lemur Island that encourage her to stretch those tight ligaments as she moves around throughout the day. There’s a series of bamboo poles attached perpendicularly to another pole, which the lemurs have all enjoyed exploring. The poles are a wider circumference than other climbing opportunities on Lemur Island, so Anja’s fingers get a good stretch while she navigates, as has fun at the same time.
“The lemurs also share a new rope hammock made of thick ropes set far apart,” said Sullivan. “It’s enriching for all of the lemurs to explore these new items, but we’re especially happy to see Anja using them successfully.”
The team will continue working with Anja to gain flexibility in her fingers.
“We talk about how there’s always a balance when you’re addressing any potential struggles an animal might face,” said Sullivan. “We want to make sure Anja is okay, but we don’t want to go too far with treatments or diagnostics if she can clearly do all of the lemur things she needs to do with her hands as they are. Her hands might just be another thing that make this little one so special, in the long run. For now, we’re seeing the exercises help, so we’ll keep doing them.”