The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California caught an adorable moment on camera: a mother otter with her newborn pup sleeping on her belly.
Mama otter is actually a wild otter who ventured into the protected basin of the Great Tide Pool area of the aquarium to rest from the winter storms. She gave birth to her pup on December 20.
Learn more at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Tumblr page.
A snowy owl was captured mid-flight by a traffic cam in Montreal, Quebec. Watch it below:
Here’s a still from the video, courtesy of Transport Quebec.
Photo by Transport Quebec.
A juvenile great white shark beached itself in Chatham, Massachusetts yesterday. With the help of beach goers, the harbor master, and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, the shark was able to safely return to the water!
Watch Part I of the rescue here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p444Zf-gcHU
and Part II:
Learn more about sharks in our great white shark article.
As we discussed in our gray wolf facts article, gray wolves are keystone predators. They help maintain a healthy ecosystem by preying upon weak animals, thereby strengthening the herd as a whole.
In this video, George Monbiot reveals how the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park after a 70-year absence not only changed the ecosystem of the park, it also altered the physical landscape.
The Toronto Zoo needs your help in naming its polar bear cub! The staff have selected their top six names, and you can vote for your favorite at their website.
Here’s a video of the little cub playing in his outdoor den for the first time:
UPDATE: After 14,000 votes, the winning name was Humphrey!
The Toronto Zoo closed early yesterday due to an epic snow storm. Watch what security cameras caught Da Mao, a giant panda, doing in the snow:
The zookeepers at Lincoln Children’s Zoo in Lincoln, Nebraska are hand-rearing a baby red panda. The little red panda, named Lincoln, was born in July. Zookeepers separated him from his mother after he developed a wound and she was unable to care for him. The keepers will bottle-feed Lincoln and care for him until he is ready to join red pandas his own age at another zoo.
View a video of Lincoln here:
In the wild, red pandas inhabits the Himalayas and southwestern China. They are considered vulnerable of extinction by the IUCN Redlist due to habitat loss and poaching.
Learn more about Lincoln the red panda at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo website.
You can watch in real time the lives of two bald eagle chicks and their parents on National Geographic’s live eagle webcam! The eagle nest (called an eyrie) is located in Washington D.C. The young eaglets, who were born in March, are covered in brown feathers. They won’t develop their characteristic white heads until they are about 4-5 years old.
Click the image to view the live webcam on National Geographic’s website.
Like bald eagles? You can see more live eagle cams here:
To learn more about bald eagles, see our Bald Eagle Facts page.
Photo by Abigail Pheiffer
At the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, CT, a 14-year-old penguin named Yellow Pink molted his waterproof feathers last year. They never grew back. Without the waterproof feathers, swimming became uncomfortable for the penguin.
Fortunately, a team of veterinarians, trainers, and research staff made him a custom neoprene wetsuit out of an old aquarium diving suit. Now Yellow Pink can stay warm as as swims.
Watch a video of Yellow Pink swimming in his suit below:
For more information about Yellow Pink, visit the Mystic Aquarium website or find them on Facebook.
Learn more about African penguins on our African Penguin Facts Page.
It’s not always the bird that eats the fish. Here’s a video showing catfish attacking pigeons along the Tarn river bank in southwestern France.