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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San Diego Zoo's giant panda, Bai Yun, gives birth to a healthy cub

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Ken Bohn / AFP/Getty Images

Indian officials order elephants out of zoos, circuses

Animal rights advocates are heralding the decision, announced this month by officials with India's Central Zoo Authority, that the country's zoos and circuses will no longer be allowed to keep captive elephants. 

The decision means that all elephants living in India's zoos and circuses -- an estimated 140 pachyderms in 26 zoos and 16 circuses -- will be moved to "elephant camps" run by the nation's forestry department.  (Those elephants currently employed in logging camps or living in Indian temples -- by all accounts, a larger number than those in zoos and circuses -- are unaffected by the decision.)  In the camps, the elephants will be able to move freely in a large space and graze as they would in the wild. A group of mahouts will be employed to monitor their well-being.

"It's a free-roaming animal that travels a long distance, and very few zoos have large areas to provide free movement," B.K. Gupta, the zoo authority's evaluation and monitoring officer, told the Agence France-Presse of the decision to move the elephants. "The issue was with keeping them chained for long hours."

So long, Mary; hello, Terry. Cleveland zoo tortoise, thought female for 50-plus years, turns out to be male

A tortoise's zookeepers in Cleveland are the ones feeling slow because after more than 50 years, they've discovered "Mary" is actually a male. Officials at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo say it can be tough to establish the sex of a giant Aldabra tortoise because the reproductive organs normally aren't visible. But Mary's maleness was unexpectedly revealed earlier this month during a routine exam.

Spokesman Tom O'Konowitz said Wednesday that the zoo has decided to rename the tortoise Terry.

When the 400-pound reptile arrived at the zoo in 1955, it was assumed he was a she because of a flatter shell, shorter tail and all-around smaller size than most males.

The tortoise is estimated to be between 75 and 100 years old.

-- Associated Press

Photo: Mary, now Terry, at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.  Credit: Associated Press

San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub gets a name

The suspense is over: In a ceremony Tuesday, San Diego Zoo officials announced the recently selected name of the giant panda cub born there in August. (In accordance with Chinese tradition, the cub couldn't be officially named until he was 100 days old.)

The zoo held a contest to allow members of the public to submit name suggestions for the cub, a healthy male born to mother Bai Yun and father Gao Gao.  Once the submission period closed Oct. 19, zoo staff members selected their five favorite names from more than 6,000 offered by panda fans, which then had to be approved by the Chinese Wildlife Conservation Assn. 

That done, the zoo turned once again to the public to decide on the cub's name, allowing visitors to its website and Facebook fan page to cast their votes for one of the five  finalists: Xiao Long ("Little Dragon"), Xiong Wei ("Extraordinary Bear"), Fu Sheng ("Blissful San Diego"), Yong Xiang ("Eternally Blessed") and Yun Zi ("Son of Cloud"). 

According to the zoo, nearly 18,000 votes were received during the voting period, and the winning name received 28% of the vote.  That name is...

Your morning adorable: Monkeys cool off with frozen fruit in Sao Paulo

A white-handed gibbon from the Sao Paulo Zoo Foundation eats monkey-friendly ice cream -- a frozen fruit wedge on a string. Temperatures rose to 86 degrees Fahrenheit this week in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the zoo fed its gibbons and black-faced spider monkeys these frozen treats for sweet relief.

More photos of the fruit-eating primates after the jump!

Your morning adorable: San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub is growing up (and will soon have a name)

The San Diego Zoo reports that its male giant panda cub, born in early August, is "definitely hitting all the panda milestones," making gains in weight (more than a pound in just the last week, for a current total of 11.7 pounds) and length (24.8 inches from head to tail). 

The zoo held a contest last month to allow the panda-loving public to offer their name suggestions for the cub, who, in accordance with Chinese tradition, won't be officially named until he's 100 days old.  After the submission period was over, keepers, veterinarians, scientists and other zoo staff chose five favorites from the entries. Next, the Chinese Wildlife Conservation Assn. had to approve the five proposed names, and with that done, the zoo allowed visitors to its website and Facebook fan page to vote for their favorite name.

Voting is now over -- the zoo says it received nearly 18,000 votes -- but the suspense continues, because the winning name won't be announced until a Nov. 17 naming ceremony. The five name finalists are Xiǎo Lóng ("Little Dragon"), Xióng Wěi ("Extraordinary Bear"), Fú Shèng ("Blissful San Diego"), Yǒng Xiǎng ("Eternally Blessed") and Yún Zǐ ("Son of Cloud").

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: The as-yet-unnamed cub at his 13-week veterinary exam. Credit: Ken Bohn / AFP/Getty Images

Your morning adorable: Asian elephant calf goes for a swim at Australia's Taronga Zoo

At Australia's Taronga Zoo, the birth of an Asian elephant calf this summer was a cause for celebration. The calf, a male, was the first of his species to be born in an Australian zoo. 

The zoo held a contest to name the baby, for which it received about 30,000 entries. In the end, the name Luk Chai (pronounced "Look Chai") was selected for him. "We liked this name as it reflects his Thai heritage and means 'my son,'" according to the Taronga Conservation Society. "A word that sounds similar to Chai also means triumph, and our boisterous and inquisitive boy certainly is a triumph for the conservation breeding program."

Zoo staff report that Luk Chai loves swimming. He "learned really quickly not to get out of his depth in the water," keeper Lucy Melo said. "He goes into the moat at the end near the elephants' barn, which has steps making it easy for him to control how deep he gets."

He also enjoys wallowing in the mud and, if you can believe your eyes, soccer! See a photo of him playing with a giant soccer ball after the jump.

Bizarre baldness strikes female spectacled bears in Leipzig zoo

It's a tough time to be a spectacled bear at the zoo in Leipzig, Germany -- at least, it's a tough time to be a female spectacled bear.  Veterinarians are struggling to determine why the zoo's female spectacled bears have suddenly lost nearly all their fur, which is typically shaggy for both females and males of their species.  There has been speculation that a genetic defect could be responsible, but beyond the obvious hair loss and its accompanying itchiness, no other symptoms have been noted in the affected bears.

The U.K.'s Daily Mail reports that zoogoers have turned out in droves to see the bizarre, as-yet-unexplained sight of the balding bears.  Dolores, above, and Lolita, another female, have retained tufts of fur around their faces and chests.  Meanwhile, according to the Sun, keepers have contacted a number of other zoos worldwide to ask for advice on the bizarre malady.

Spectacled bears are native to South America and are sometimes called Andean bears, after the mountain range they occupy.  They are South America's only native bear, and they're typically distinguishable (though you wouldn't know it from the photo of poor Dolores here) by eyeglass-shaped markings on their faces. 

Usain Bolt adopts a cheetah

The world's fastest man has adopted the world's fastest animal.

Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt adopted a cheetah cub today in Kenya's Nairobi National Park.

According to Reuters, Bolt used to be scared of cheetahs because they could outrun him, but he changed his mind after bottle feeding the cute, little critter.

The Jamaican sprinter welcomed the cub as part of his family. The animal's new name? Lightning Bolt.

We're hoping Bolt doesn't fall victim to "101 Dalmatians" syndrome and try to get rid of the cheetah once it gets older, less cuddly and more feral. We're keeping an eye on you, Usain.

-- Mark Milian

Photo: Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images

Your morning adorable: Orangutan snacks on a pumpkin at the National Zoo

The National Zoo in Washington, like many other zoos around the country, is helping its animal residents celebrate Halloween with treats (healthy ones, like pumpkins -- no bite-size Snickers bars here) and special Halloween-themed enrichment activities. 

This orangutan is seated on one of the zoo's newest pieces of equipment, a specially-made cargo net constructed from fire hoses. Zoo staff report that the orangs took quickly to their new "furniture," playing, climbing, or just plain relaxing on it. (Keepers also utilize the net in enrichment activities for the apes, hanging toys and puzzle feeders from it.)

More photos after the jump!