Recent baby boom at ZooTampa

And Zoo Tampa because their baby boom is also better than ever with more than 50 new arrivals welcomed already this year. Two adorable southern white rhino calves, critically endangered golden frog hatchlings, rescued manatee calves. The zoo is just busting at the seams with new little life and all these cute new faces really do play a vital role in saving some species from extinction. So joining us now to talk more about it, we're being joined by Meredith Persky, Dr. Meredith Persky, Senior Vice President and Chief Conservation and Wildlife Health Officer at Zoo Tampa. Dr. Persky, thanks so much for being here. How's it going? Great, thank you for inviting us to share our excitement. Of course, we love, we love little babies. Now, and we'll start off by saying, I mean, welcoming over 50 animal births and hatchlings since the start of the year. I mean, what we're talking about six to seven months. So that's, that's incredible. What factors would you say kind of align behind the scenes in order for, I guess, successful pregnancies, if you want to say that? Yeah, absolutely. So a lot of work goes into planning for which animals we, you know, need to focus on and prioritize and, and breeding. And so we work really closely with experts from really within the world, within the U.S. with other AZA accredited zoos to determine which species that we are planning to set up for success and how we can best pair those animals together to ensure survival of their species. Okay, so I was going to say, how do you, I know there are two southern white rhino calves, golden frogs, many of these births part of, as you said, the AZA special survival, species survival plans. So how does, how does it help these endangered animals? Obviously any new life is welcome when it comes to an endangered species. Yeah, absolutely. So these births literally bring conservation stories to life. So with animals, such as the Panamanian golden frog, that those animals are believed to be extinct in the wild. And so having those species in zoos that can provide the specialized care for them and can learn more about them so we can potentially repopulate the environment when it's set up for better success. With the white rhinos, they're a great example of how conservation organizations have come together to protect the species. They were in a lot of trouble years ago, decades ago, and because of great conservation organizations and lots of collaboration and efforts that we're able to help boost that population and really see a success story. Okay, and I also have to ask you about, can you elaborate a little bit on the manatee? I understand it had been a really long time since the birth of a baby manatee, right? Yeah, so our goal is, you know, we're a critical care center. And so really when these animals come in, they're not here to make babies or to, you know, get pregnant necessarily. But these are animals that we're rescuing in because of an injury. And so in this case, the mom, Pneuma Thurman, was presented to us as being a boat strike. And so she was floating abnormally. And when she came in, the FWC officers and our team said, wow, she looks like she could be pregnant. And within a month, she gave birth to a little calf named Beatrix. And so because the mom was not healthy at the time of her rescue, there's really a high risk involved in saying, you know, does she have the nutrients? Can she support not only herself, but creating a life internally so that she can make a healthy baby? And so we're really, it was a great and fortunate surprise and that the calf has had some struggles, but we continue to monitor her and her mom really closely and are doing everything we can to help them. I love that so much. Okay. So obviously I know a lot of people watching our show right now go and visit Zoo Tampa. So are the babies available for them to see yet? Or are they kind of still being nursed since they're small? Tell me all the things. Yeah. So come see them. They are adorable. The pictures and videos do not do them justice. So with riding our expedition Wild Africa, you can go through the tram ride and see the bongo calves running around. The two rhino calves are incredible together. Just seeing them out on Habitat and having a good time and enjoying the mud wallows and kind of experimenting with everything in life. It's just invigorating at the zoo. And I'm assuming that, you know, like when they have pediatric nurses, I mean, I'm assuming does, is there a certain staff member designated to the babies or everybody kind of pitches in? Yeah. So we're fortunate in that they get really great healthcare. So their caretakers know everything about these animals. And so we work really closely as the veterinary team with those animals. And so when we had the rhino calves born, actually our team was here when the second rhino calf was born and some of them got to witness that. And so we were able to say, okay, you know, give the mom space and use cameras appropriately, and then say, okay, she's doing what she should do. The calf is standing up. Okay. We know it's nursing. We'll also do what we call neonatal exams. So similar to when you have a baby and the pediatrician takes the baby real quick and does a few things we do similar, but we adapted because these animals, you know, are wild. And so we give them some time to bond with their mom. And then especially if we're unsure if they're nursing or not, we'll take a quick blood sample, really minimize our handling time and make sure that they are nursing, that they're doing appropriate behaviors. And so making sure we don't need to intervene. And our goal is to have mom do the heavy work and then we're just there to support them if needed. Yeah. And so do they get to, I know, obviously sometimes you take in animals from other zoos and there's kind of a shift on where these animals go. So I guess my question is, do they get to stay with their parents for most of their lives? So it depends on the species, because in some instances when you have solitary animals, tigers, for instance, are one that, you know, they're not going to do well if you have a mother staying with her cub forever. So we definitely support and want to have animals go through that weaning period and kind of mimic what they would be doing with their wild counterparts. So for the manatee calf, for instance, she would stay with mom for at least two years and that would be our goal here. Or until we, if we're able to get mom well enough to be released, which would be our goal, that we would help them be able to be released together as a pair. So with all of these animals, we do try to mimic what mother nature would do and let them spend that bonding time with their mom. And then when they get to a point that it's either their time to separate and form their own herd or their own crash, and then we work with other zoos and other institutions to help them with that process. Okay. You know, that makes a lot of sense. My last question to you, I guess, so obviously they're babies, when these animals grow up, they will continue to play a vital role in helping in their species reproduction. So I guess does that, obviously it's a fluid situation, but when they're older, do you determine if then that animal should breed? Yeah, absolutely. So working with a bunch of scientists, conservationists, lots of zoos, lots of talks and conferences kind of like match.com for animals and seeing, hey, you know, we think that this one over here and this one over here, you know, learning what we can do to preserve some of those, you know, species for the future, figuring out if we can do freezing embryos for future genetics or what can be done. So it's really an exciting time in the field and knowing that we're not only preventing extinction, but we're helping to ensure the populations that we do have to really take good care of those. Definitely. Okay. So are there any other babies on the way that we should know about? Oh, well, right now we also have some balimina chicks. So again, you know, the animals, the white rhinos and bongo and these big charismatic animals, but these little balimina birds are adorable. They're critically endangered. There's believed to be less than a hundred of them in Bali. And so for our team to be part of that is something that's really exciting. We also have some adorable nyala calves, two impala calves, a few spoon-billed chicks. And again, you can see the mom, Pneuma Thurman and her calf Beatrix through our critical care center. The guests can actually see us working on those animals at times and can get a peek of the calf from a distance. I love that. Well, I have learned so much. Thank you so much for coming on here and talking all about this exciting time at Zoo Tampa. Dr. Persky, we appreciate you and hopefully we'll be talking to you again about more babies soon. That sounds great. Come out and see us. Absolutely. And yeah, actually for anybody watching, just in case, where is Zoo Tampa located and tell me your hours. Sure. We are located at Lowry Park and our hours are typically from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and we are open seven days a week. Awesome. Awesome. Well, again, thank you. Have a great weekend and we will be talking to you again soon. That sounds great. Thank you so much. Have a good one. Take care.