Cross your fingers for Little Jumbo....

The two-month-old female elephant was found lying in the mud in India's Bandipur National Park.  It looks like her mother tried to pull her out and finally had to give up, poor thing.

It's touch-and-go because the mother's milk is critical through the third month; however, they're consulting experts far and wide and haven't given up hope yet.

Here's the full story.

Learn more about Indian Elephants here.

The happy story of Donna the Elephant....

Donna was rescued from an overcrowded, poorly ventilated trailer seven years ago.  She was apparently crammed in with eight llamas and two other elephants, one of whom had already died.  (The trailer was a whopping 38' feet or about the size of a big motorhome, can you imagine??)

Now Donna's a healthy, happy, brand new mom.

See a picture of the new baby and read Donna's story here.

Learn more about the African Elephant and Africa's two other pachyderms, or "thick-skinned ones."

It's a Pangolin, not an artichoke!

Why in the world would even the most adventurous human carnivore want to eat a Pangolin when there are so many other (legal!) meats to choose from?

The Wildlife Department in Malaysia recently seized 100 boxes of frozen Pangolin meat and another 35 boxes of meat still wearing its scales (which makes me sick, I don't know about you).  Here's the story.

Zoos work so hard to preserve endangered species just so poachers can turn around and kill them... but then again, if people weren't buying it, the poachers would soon be out of business.  It's a clear case of "trickle-down blame."

Learn more about the adorable Pangolin here.

A Zebra for Christmas!

Have a look at the Baby Zebra born on Christmas Day at the Monarto Zoo in South Australia.

SO cute!

Click here to learn more about Zebras.

Critters in Battle

Did you know that a pigeon named Winkie was the first recipient of the Dickin Medal in 1943?

Neither did we.

Here's an interesting article about Winkie and the other pigeons that served in World War II, plus some of the dog and cat heroes who earned this bronze medal of valor in later years.

Killer Elephant spared the death sentence...

It seems Tembo was about to be executed when a vet stepped in and arranged for the lucky pachyderm to get not only a new lease on life but a new career as well.

Works for me... except Tembo's new job is giving rides to tourists.

And to think I grabbed my kids and ran away from the elephant ride at Wild Animal Park when (Mary, was it?) started acting a bit frisky as we stood in line!  (If that seems a bit over the top, you have to understand, not too much earlier, a circus elephant had gone berserk with a load of moms and kids on its back, so it didn't take much to send me screaming into the sunset.)

Anyhoo, we're happy for Tembo and his partners in crime, some of whom are going to be trained as "all-terrain vehicles."  (If you're screaming inside just thinking about this, remember -- these are elephants that have been rescued from death row.)

Here's the full story.

Click here to learn more about the African Elephant.

Giraffes are tall... You know it, but do you really *get* it?

I've seen pictures.

I've seen them in the flesh (before I moved up here, of course, where we have something like 16 animals in our zoo).

And I've researched them up the wahzoo.

But until I saw this photo of the new giraffe baby at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, I have to admit... I didn't really "get it."

Whoa doggy!

Click here to learn more about Giraffes.