Your morning adorable: Yun Zi, San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub, is becoming a handful

If there's one thing we're thankful for this Thanksgiving, it is adorable giant panda cubs like Yun Zi, one of the San Diego Zoo's youngest residents. Yun Zi recently reached the age of 100 days, a milestone for giant panda cubs. (In accordance with Chinese tradition, panda cubs can't be formally named until they reach that age.)

Yun Zi's name translates to "Son of Cloud," an homage to his mother, Bai Yun, whose name means "White Cloud."  After the cub's most recent checkup Tuesday, keepers reported that he's becoming a bit of a handful; they had to use both hands to keep him from walking off the examination table! 

Yun Zi and Bai Yun are currently being kept in a den separated from the rest of the zoo's panda population; they'll remain there until the cub is about 5 months old. (Panda fans eager to get a glimpse of the cub in the meantime are encouraged to visit him virtually via the zoo's online Panda Cam.)

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Ken Bohn / AFP/Getty Images

Reader photo of the day: Talented basset hound tackles agility course

We love submitter CAstangs' photo of basset hound Flash enjoying the agility course.  We can honestly say we never expected to see a basset navigating jumps, ramps and weave poles like a pro; we're far more used to seeing breeds like border collies and Shetland sheepdogs tackling such tasks. 

Flash apparently has made it something of a personal mission to shatter dog-agility stereotypes.  "Basset hound agility is not an oxymoron," CAstangs says.  "Flash has earned some titles and really loves doing it."  Well, if rabbits and chickens can do it, why not the slow and steady basset? 

Think your animal photo should be our reader photo of the day?  Show us by heading to the Pets & Animals category of Your Scene, The Times' photo-sharing site, and selecting the appropriate album (for instance, we found CAstangs' photo in the basset hounds album).  Once you've chosen your album, just click the "submit" link at the top of the page, pick your photo (.jpg format) and include a caption that tells us a little about the animal or animals in the photo -- it's as simple as that!

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: CAstangs / Your Scene

Your morning adorable: Baby gibbon drinks from a bottle in German zoo

At Germany's Schwerin Zoo, keeper Christina Schneider has been enlisted to act as a surrogate mother for Walli, a 3-week-old gibbon.  Walli's mother rejected him shortly after his birth, meaning that zoo staff have needed to step in to raise him themselves. 

Toward that end, the baby receives bottle-feedings every two hours, according to the Daily Mail.  Zoo staff expect to care for him around the clock until he's about 6 months old, at which point they hope he'll be mature enough to live with the zoo's other gibbons.

Gibbons are considered "lesser apes," a name that, despite the way it may sound, isn't a value judgment about them!  They differ in a few main ways from the "great apes" -- gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans and the like -- and in some ways more closely resemble monkeys than apes.  For instance, unlike great apes, gibbons don't build nests to sleep in, preferring instead to sleep sitting up with their arms wrapped around their knees!  They're native to forested regions of southeast Asia.

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Jens Buettner / European Pressphoto Agency

Reader photo of the day: Rita the dog cavorts at Huntington Dog Beach

Submitter spccwgurl shares this sweet photo of her dog, Rita, enjoying a day at the beach -- Orange County's Huntington Dog Beach, to be exact. Rita certainly seems to be enjoying herself!

The 1.5-acre stretch of beach is open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily for leash-free dogs and their humans, and it's a hot spot for dog-loving Southern California residents (especially those who like to surf). For more information on area dog parks and dog-friendly beaches, check out our colleague Elina Shatkin's great, detailed list at The Guide. (For our part, we're partial to the expansive Redondo Beach Dog Park, but maybe that's just because our dogs are afraid of water.)

To share your photos with us, just head to the Pets & Animals category of Your Scene, The Times' photo-sharing site. Select the appropriate album (for instance, we found spccwgurl's photo in the Dog Parks & Beaches album), click the "submit" link at the top of the page, choose your photo (.jpg format) and include a caption that tells us a bit about the animal you've photographed.  We can't wait to see it!

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: spccwgurl / Your Scene

Your morning adorable: White rhinoceros calf sticks close to mom at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

At just shy of 2 weeks old, this white rhinoceros calf, born at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Florida, already looks like its mother, Mlelani, in miniature (minus the horns, of course). 

The calf's birth is a boon both to Busch Gardens and to its species, which has suffered as a result of poaching in its native sub-Saharan Africa.  (In parts of Asia, the horns are believed to have medicinal benefits; in parts of Africa and the Middle East, they're used to make fancy dagger handles.)  

Fun fact: If you've noticed that the white rhinoceros is, well, gray, there may be a good reason for the naming discrepancy.  One explanation for how the species came to be called the white rhino reads rather like a game of Telephone: English settlers in Africa, confused because the Dutch and Afrikaans words for "wide" sound an awful lot like the English word "white," figured the locals were referring to the animals as "white rhinos."  In reality, the story goes, that wasn't the case at all -- they were actually referring to the rhinos' wide mouths.  Get it?

See another photo of Mlelani and her calf after the jump!

Reader photo of the day: Dogs mimic their napping owner

Don't fret, dog-loving readers. Although it may appear that something terrible has befallen these dogs and their human counterpart, in reality nothing could be further from the truth, as submitter Barney explains.

"On the weekend we take our dogs for a run," Barney says. "My husband decided to take a quick nap in the field and 2 of the dogs flopped onto their backs too."   Now, we've heard of dogs mimicking their human companions, but we've never seen an example of it quite like this!

Think your animal photo should be our reader photo of the day?  We'd love to see it, and showing us is easy!  Just head to the Pets & Animals category of Your Scene, The Times' photo-sharing site, and select the appropriate album (for instance, we snagged Barney's photo from the Just Five More Minutes album).  Once you've chosen your album, click the "submit" link at the top of the page, pick your photo (.jpg format) and include a caption that tells us a little about the animal or animals you've photographed. It's as simple as that!

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Barney / Your Scene

Your morning adorable: Elephants canoodle at new Thai elephant retirement home

Thailand's new Pang La Elephant Rehabilitation Center officially opened over the weekend, becoming the first facility of its kind in the country known for its love affair with elephants. 

The center, in Thailand's Lampang province, plans to care for up to 200 elderly and disabled Asian elephants; currently, about 30 elephants call it home, including several that are partially or completely blind, according to the Bangkok Post.  It's staffed by veterinarians and mahouts and run by Thailand's Forest Industry Organization. 

Pang La will care for elephant residents, like the two elderly pachyderms above, "until their last breath," Forest Industry Organization chief Manoonsak Tantiwiwat told the Bangkok Post.

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Elephants at the Pang La Elephant Rehabilitation Center use their trunks to pet each other Nov. 21.  Credit: Pongmanat Tasiri / European Pressphoto Agency

Reader photo of the day: A lilac-breasted roller on the hunt in Africa

Submitter Alan shares his vivid photo of the most colorful bird we'd ever seen (and that's including peafowl), taken in Botswana.  The bird is a lilac-breasted roller, a species commonly found in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of the Middle East. 

Lilac-breasted rollers are known to perch high in trees or atop telephone poles and other similarly high places in order to scope out their favored foods, which can include everything from small insects to reptiles to other birds. 

Think your animal photo should be our reader photo of the day?  Show us by submitting it to the Pets & Animals category of Your Scene, The Times' photo-sharing site.  Just select the appropriate album (for instance, Alan submitted his photo to the Birds of a Feather album), click the "submit" link at the top of the page, choose your photo (.jpg format) and include a caption that tells us a little about your subject matter. 

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Alan / Your Scene

Your morning adorable: Three bumps -- er, Siberian tiger cubs -- on a log

Germany's Nuremberg Zoo welcomed Rangar, Khan and Domur, Siberian tiger cubs, back in August. Since Siberian tigers (also called Amur tigers) are endangered -- it's believed that only about 400 to 500 animals remain in the wild in eastern Russia and parts of China and North Korea -- these three healthy cubs have given the zoo great cause for celebration.

Siberian tigers are the largest of the tiger subspecies still in existence today. There were once eight subspecies, but three (the Caspian tiger, Javan tiger and Bali tiger) became extinct during the 20th century.  The five remaining subspecies are all considered endangered.

More photos of Rangar, Khan and Domur after the jump!

Reader photo of the day: A broken back didn't slow down Anna Marie, a rescued dog from Romania

Submitter Nancy Janes shares this wonderful shot of Anna Marie, a rescued dog with an amazing story we couldn't keep to ourselves. 

Janes found and rescued Anna Marie in Galati, Romania, when she was just a puppy; Anna Marie had suffered a broken back as a result of being hit by a car. "Now, she is the 'wild child' of our family," Janes says of Anna Marie, who lives alongside six other rescued dogs from Romania.

Janes, a California resident, founded the group Romania Animal Rescue after visiting Romania on a hiking tour in 2001. In the capital city of Bucharest, she took time out to feed some stray dogs -- an abundance of strays is one legacy of Nicolae Ceauşescu's rule -- and encountered a young Romanian woman who was also feeding the animals. 

"I told her I would go back to America and help Romania's dogs," Janes explained of the encounter. "She said, 'Everyone says they will help the Romanian dogs. Then they go home and forget.' Well, having heard this, I had to keep my word!"