ST. LOUIS (KSDK) -Priya the baby elephant is not the only newborn the Saint Louis Zoo welcomed to the world this spring. A series of endangered species made for a busy March and April for zoo pediatricians.
A pair of male Speke's gazelles-"Fragilistic" and "Teller"-were born March 1 and April 10, respectively. Native to Somalia and Ethiopia, this endangered species reaches a maximum shoulder height of just two feet, making it the smallest of all gazelles.
"Sunny," a female lowland nyala, was born March 8. The nyala antelope resides in southern Africa and is one of the largest of its kind, standing over four feet at the shoulder.
Two female Humboldt penguin chicks were born at the Penguin & Puffin Coast exhibit on March 16 and March 17. The birds live in Peru and Chile and considered a threatened species. The chicks have not been named as of yet.
A male mountain bongo, "Djembe," was born March 18. An endangered subspecies of antelope, the mountain bongo can only be found in pockets of mountain forest in Kenya.
On April 7, "Cruze" the male banteng was born. Though born with red coats, a banteng's coat will gradually turn to black as it grows from juvenile to adulthood. Bantengs are an endangered species of wild cattle native to Southeast Asia.
"Stan" the Bactrian camel was born April 8. Babies are born with two humps like their parents, but they spend their immediate post-birth time laying flat on their sides in order to build up energy-rich fat in those humps. This critically endangered camel is native to Mongolia and central Asia.
Four Transcapian urial lambs-two male and two female-were born between April 8 and April 11. Urials, a species of wild sheep, are native to Iran and India, and live in open, rolling terrain. They have yet to be named.
Four elegant crested tinamou hatched between April 29 and May 1. A relative of the ostrich and emu, tinamou are known for their brightly colored eggs and live in dry lowland in southern Chile and Argentina.
The spring baby announcement does not include the many reptiles and insects born in that time.