San Diego Zoo Baby News – Gorillas and reindeer and jaguars oh my!

Last year San Diego Zoo and Safari Park welcomed a baby gorilla maned Monroe. His birthday isn’t officially until June 17th, but the zoo is already celebrating. According to the San Diego Zoo blog, Monroe now weighs in at 20 pounds. “Perpetually on the go, he runs all over the exhibit at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, playing with anything he finds along the way, occasionally giving Dad, Winston, a swat on the rear as he charges past him.”

Next weekend Monroe will get a great birthday present.  Friday, June 15 through Sunday, June 17, all the gorillas will get special treats including what the zoo terms “ice cake.”

Here’s a video from last November when Vila, another gorilla at the park celebrated her birthday. She turned 54. You can see baby Monroe in the video too!

Vising the Safari Park on Father’s Day would be a great gift for any dad, plus you can watch Monroe eat and play. He reportedly loves to climb in and out of boxes, look at himself in the mirror, and he’s even practicing his chest beating.

In addition to Monroe, the zoo has welcomed a few other new babies recently. A two week old reindeer calf is doing well at the San Diego Zoo. He remains nameless, but is growing rapidly.

Photo from www.facebook.com/SanDiegoZoo

And announced today via Facebook, the zoo’s jaguar cubs have names. The male is Tikal, named for an important Mayan cultural center and the female is Maderas, named for a volcano in Nicaragua.