Stevie has made her public debut! Zoo Knoxville officials are so excited for guests to finally meet her. Stevie is usually out between 10am and 1pm.
Watch more videos about Stevie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiLKGQTUHzg&list=PLFSD8pCtwrSXZhi_3-A6-ZHhlxm2o08rw
Due to complications at birth, Stevie had to be hand-raised. To integrate back more easily into the troop, it is crucial for a hand-reared infant chimp to develop normal social behaviors early on.
Stevie currently has a feeding at midnight. This is something she will need to be able to drop so that the routines of the other chimps are not disrupted by this late-night feeding.
In the meantime, Stevie is hitting all her milestones and getting used exploring her home!
Chimpanzees are being driven to extinction by habitat loss, disease, and their biggest threat, illegal poaching. Zoo Knoxville is working in partnership with 32 other zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) to ensure a healthy population remains as hope for the future.
UPDATE: Chimpanzee Stevie is now 10 weeks old, 6lbs. and thriving at Zoo Knoxville. She is beginning to crawl, working on sitting up and getting her first tooth any day now! A team of expert caregivers are still caring for her around the clock until she reaches a more independent stage to reunite with the troop. She spends face time with the other chimpanzees daily at Chimp Ridge.
Continue reading "UPDATE: Chimpanzee Stevie @ 10 weeks" »
Meet some of the newest additions to Zoo Knoxville’s Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Campus (ARC), three Minor’s chameleons have just hatched after eight months of incubating. These tiny newcomers are only about one inch long. This species is endemic to Madagascar and is endangered due to mining and logging in their natural range.
At just 3 weeks old, she is thriving! Zoo Knoxville Chimpanzee Infant Stevie is currently receiving around the clock keeper care from 10 expert primate care givers.
She is meeting all of her milestones and eating on demand. Each day consists of bottles, weight and temperature checks, and outdoor time. She also is slowly being reintroduced to the troop who see her daily.
Zoo Knoxville’s goal is to reintroduce her to the troop, beginning with the other females. This will require waiting until Stevie is more mobile in the coming months and training the other females to help care for her.
Can We See the baby?
We currently have no scheduled viewing times for guests to see Stevie. Providing the best care for all of the chimpanzees in our troop will continue to be Zoo Knoxville’s top priority. Chimpanzees are an Endangered species, and being driven to extinction by habitat loss, disease, and their biggest threat, illegal poaching. Zoo Knoxville is working in partnership with 32 other zoos accredited by @zoos_aquariums to ensure a healthy population remains as hope for the future. #wildlyfun #knoxville #chimpanzee #zookeepers #alwayscaring
Binti, a 37-year-old chimpanzee, gave birth on Friday, April 22, to a healthy female. Binti experienced some complications with the birth and needed medical intervention to address a retained placenta. Thanks to the quick action of her caretakers and the veterinary team from the UTCVM-University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, Binti is recovering well. While she is getting her strength back, the infant is being cared for round-the-clock by the Great Apes team and is healthy and thriving.
Continue reading "BIG NEWS!" »
The Zoo Knoxville Silvered-leaf langur born November 30 to parents Lucy and Walter has been introduced to the troop!
The new female is hitting her milestones and all of the langurs have a hand in caring for the new addition.
She is only the second langur to be born in Knoxville since the zoo began working with the species in 2017.
You can see the family in the day room at Langur Landing in Asian Trek when you visit Zoo Knoxville.
Over the Labor Day weekend, at Knoxville Zoo, a Chacoan Peccary named Butternut took the holiday literally and delivered three ‘peclets’!
The three siblings were born on the morning of September 6th to seven-year-old mother Butternut and two-year-old father Squash. The newborns are reported to be healthy and thriving. Zoo staff said they are already displaying their unique behavior of “frisky-hopping”, which consists of running and leaping in circles in short bursts of activity.
Visitors to Knoxville Zoo can see the peccary family daily during regular zoo hours.
Photo Credits: Knoxville Zoo
The Chacoan Peccary (Catagonus wagneri), or Tagua, is a species of peccary native to the Gran Chaco of Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina. Believed to be the closest living relative of the extinct genus Platygonus, the Chacoan Peccary was first described in 1930 based on fossils and was originally thought to be an extinct species. The animal was discovered to be alive, in 1971, in the Argentine province of Salta.
The Chacoan Peccary has many pig-like features. It is an ungulate with a well-formed rostrum with a leathery snout. The bristle-like hair is generally brown to almost gray. A dark stripe runs across the back, and white fur is on the shoulders. When nervous or frightened, it flees and raises the hairs on its back. While making an escape, it will spray secretions from its dorsal glands, which may be a signal for other peccaries to keep their group together.
Chacoan Peccaries often travel in herds of up to twenty, and they are active during the day. They are social mammals that communicate by various sounds, ranging from grunts to chatters of the teeth. Though individuals may occasionally exhibit aggressive behavior such as charging and biting, the species is not as aggressive as others. As a defensive strategy, members of a herd may line up in a defensive wall; unfortunately, this makes them an easy target for hunters. They also produce a milky, odorous substance that is secreted from glands on their backs and is dispersed onto trees or shrubs by rubbing.
Peccaries are omnivores, but the Chacoan Peccary prefers to feed on various species of cacti. They use their snout to roll the cacti on the ground, rubbing the spines off. Their two-chambered stomachs are well suited to digest tough foods, and their kidneys are specialized to break down acids from the cacti. They are also known to eat acacia pods and cactus flowers. They seek out salt licks (which provide calcium, magnesium, and chlorine) that are formed from ant mounds and construction projects.
Young peccaries are generally born between September and December, but litters have been found year-round. The average litter is 2 to 3 offspring. Females may leave the herd to give birth and then return afterwards. Newborns are precocial, able to run a few hours after birth.
The Chacoan Peccary is currently listed as “Endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Numbers are decreasing as a result of habitat loss and fragmentation.
Knoxville Zoo is now home to two Red Panda cubs, born June 1. The twins, one boy and one girl, are born to mother Scarlett and father Madan.
Though young and still a bit reclusive, the cubs already have rather distinct personality traits. The female cub is feisty, often letting
out a "huff-quack" - a cross between a hiss and a bark- to keep strangers at bay. Her brother is a bit more easy going, much like his father. Scarlett and her cubs have been bonding in their next box. When the twins are older, they will leave the nest box for the zoo's outdoor
Red Panda exhibit. Until then, the 11 week old cubs are looking for names! The zoo is holding a naming contest for the pair. Voting will occur on their website starting August 31.
The birth of these cubs brings the number of red pandas born at Knoxville Zoo to 106. The zoo ranks as one of the top two zoos in the world for the breeding of endangered red pandas. Red pandas are endangered, primarily due to destruction of their native habitat, which extends from western Nepal to northern Myanmar.
Meet Barley, Knoxville Zoo's two-week-old Narragansett Turkey poult (the technical term for a new hatchling). Barley is a pretty important little bird, because Narragansett Turkeys are globally endangered; they are a heritage breed that fell out of fashion years ago, and now there are fewer than 1000 breeding birds in the U.S. Soon, Barley will be big enough to go on exhibit at the zoo.
Photo credits: Knoxville Zoo