Summer is the peak time for pandas to give birth. This time is the best time to visit the panda newborns in the panda base. In fact, aside from giant pandas, there are many animals that will also have estrus in the spring and give birth in the summer. For this reason, I went to Chengdu Zoo especially to see what lovely babies we can see in the zoo.

I first went to the Lion & Tiger Garden, where I saw four Siberian tiger babies. According to the staff, these tiger cubs are about three months old. The two of them are kept in one enclosure, playing and wrestling constantly. When the keepers put the food in front of them, they began to eat quickly, and a plate of meat was eaten up in less than a minute.

Siberian tiger cubs were playing and wrestling.

Siberian tiger babies are eating.

The Siberian tiger is a first-class protected animal in China. It is the largest  felid in existence, with a maximum weight of over 350 kg. Siberian tigers generally live in mountain coniferous forests or coniferous-broad-leaved mixed forests at an altitude of 500-1200 meters. Siberian tigers hide by day and come out by night.  Their home range can reach more than 100 square kilometers. The life span of wild Siberian tigers is generally between 15 and 20 years, and that of captive tigers can reach 20 to 30 years. According to the statistics of 2017, the number of wild Siberian tigers is less than 500, mostly distributed in Russia, and only a few dozen in China.

Siberian tiger cub

Next to the Siberian tiger cubs are two South China tiger cubs, who are four months old. South China tigers are darker in color and thinner and longer in face than Siberian tigers. They also gobble up food just like Siberian tiger cubs. Because the two South China tiger cubs are bigger and compete more fiercely with each other when eating, the keepers will feed them separately.

South China tiger cubs jump and climb

South China tiger cub is eating.

The  South China tiger is also a national first-class protected animal and a unique species of tiger in China. They live in the forest and mountainous areas in south-central China. The South China tiger is smaller among the subspecies tigers and was listed as one of the ten most endangered species in 1996. The South China tigers are now almost extinct in the wild, with only 100 tigers in captivity.

South China tiger cubs

Then I came to monkey hill and saw a Sichuan golden monkey and her baby. Although the baby is very small, it is still  dexterous, and very agile.. The baby monkey tumbled up and down on the wooden frame with his mother, sometimes he would lay on his mother's back and sometimes he hugged her belly, and sometimes he would play alone beside his mother. When he was tired, he rested in his mother’s arms.

Sichuan golden monkey baby is playing with his mom.

Sichuan golden monkey baby is resting in his mother’s arms.

The  Sichuan golden monkey has a blue face and long golden hair. Because of a characteristic "nose facing the sky", it is also known as "nose-up monkey" or snub-nosed monkey in English.  It belongs to the same Genus as the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, Guizhou snub-nosed monkey and Tonkin snub-nosed monkey and Myanmar  snub-nosed monkey. Except for the last one distributed in Myanmar, the other four snub-nosed monkeys are endemic to China and endangered. They are national treasure animals as famous as giant pandas.

Adult male Sichuan golden monkey is with a sub-adult.

Next to Deer Park, I also saw a takin and its calf. At first, the takin calf and its mothers were eating tender grass in the distance. With more and more tourists visiting them, the calf probably came closer and closer to us out of curiosity for human beings, and then stood near and looked at us.

A takin calf is eating with mom.

A takin calf came closer and watched us.

A  takin is a huge, peculiar-looking ungulate  that looks like a cow or horse, and is commonly known in the local language as "six unlike".  Mainly distributed in the dense forest area in the eastern foot of the Himalayas, takin belong to the first-level protected animals, unique to China, and is one of the four national treasures of China. Takin are listed in the international catalogue of endangered wild animals and plants. Takin is also a neighbor of giant pandas, sharing the same habitat with pandas.

Takin

Then I came to Bear Mountain and saw an Asiatic black bear and her cubs. Because of the hot weather, the cubs seemed unwilling to come out and play. Instead they hid with their mother at the door of the house and looked out from time to time. Sometimes they would walk down the steps carefully, but when they saw that their mother had not followed them, they rushed back.

Asiatic black bear is hiding at the door with mom.

An Asiatic  black bear cub looks out curiously.

Asiatic black bears are a large animal that people are familiar with. It is 150 to 170 centimeters long and weighs about 150 kilograms. Its hair is dark and long.  Its chin is white. There is a V-shaped white spot on its chest and are sometimes called moon bears. Black bears live in the mountains and forests and mainly come out in the daytime. They are good at climbing trees, swimming, and can walk upright. They have poor vision and a sensitive sense of smell and hearing. Black bears will often hibernate during the winter. The Asiatic black bear, is a second-class national protected animals. They are threatened by loss of habitat and mainly human hunting.  Bear’s fur, gallbladder, paws and other body parts are sold for Traditional Chinese medicine and game food markets. In order to get bear bile for traditional medicine, more than 7,000 Asiatic black bears are cruelly tortured on over 400 bear farms every year in China. Moreover, due to the restrictions of feeding conditions and techniques, many bears die of infection during the bile drainage procedure and poor captive conditions, resulting in a sharp decrease in the total number of wild  bears. If it is not protected, it is only a matter of time before the black bear is endangered.

Asiatic black bear

In addition to the lovely babies of these precious animals, I also saw a baby hog deer, a baby white milk deer, a baby tufted deer, a baby mandrill and other lovely animal babies in the zoo. Some of them follow their mothers, others explore the outside world alone in the distance, full of curiosity about everything around them.

A baby white milk deer and mom

Baby tufted deer

A baby hog deer

A baby mandrill and mom

Every kind of animal is a precious resource of nature and valuable to human existence. Do you want to know more about them and protect them better when you see these animal babies behaving in a naive manner and with innocent eyes?