San Diego Zoo: From Guinness World Records to Rare Aye-Ayes

San Diego Zoo's Centennial Celebration

• 🥳 The San Diego Zoo celebrated its 100th birthday by attempting a Guinness World Records title for the most people wearing hand puppets simultaneously.
• 🎯 The goal was to have at least 250 active participants, with the final count reaching an impressive 508 participants, setting a new world record.
• 🦁 The zoo's origin story is traced back to Prince the Lion and a roar that inspired Dr. Harry Waggger to start the zoo 100 years ago.

Rare Aye-Aye Birth and Sloth Bear Facts

• 👶 The zoo welcomed its newest primate addition, FOD, an Aye-Aye, who was born on September 8th and is gaining weight steadily.
• 🍼 FOD is the first Aye-Aye baby born at the San Diego Zoo, and her parents, Stixs and Nina, are the first adult Aye-Ayes at the facility.
• 🐻 Sloth bears, despite their name, are fast-moving creatures not related to sloths, inhabiting tropical forests and grasslands of Asia.
• 🐜 Their diet consists of insects, particularly termites and ants, for which their three-inch claws and specialized noses are adapted.

Animal Health and Conservation Efforts

• 🐼 The zoo is conducting ultrasounds on Bayune, a female giant panda, to assess for pregnancy, distinguishing between actual pregnancy and pseudo-pregnancy.
• 🦎 Banded Fiji iguanas, an endangered species, had two babies hatch this week, with keepers hoping for more females to bolster the population.
• 🦩 An annual flamingo roundup involved over 35 staff members to conduct health assessments on 96 birds before the zoo opened to the public.
• 🐆 At the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Addison the cheetah is on exhibit with her four healthy and active cubs, born on July 13th.

Animal Enrichment and Exhibits

• ❄️ Reindeer at the San Diego Zoo's northern frontier area received snow enrichment for the first time, along with wreaths and hibiscus flowers.
• 🦒 Okapi calves weigh about 35 lbs at birth and are more closely related to giraffes than zebras, despite their striped markings.
• 🎤 Komodo dragons, the world's largest lizards, are featured, with Sunny, a 9-foot Komodo dragon, wearing a portable camera to show his daily perspective.