{"id":118119,"date":"2026-01-14T18:47:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/118119\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T18:47:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:47:25","slug":"baby-born-in-tampa-could-help-save-a-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/118119\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby born in Tampa could help save a species"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ZooTampa welcomed an Eastern Bongo calf. There are fewer than 100 Eastern Bongos left in the wild.<\/p>\n<p>TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 It&#8217;s a girl! ZooTampa at Lowry Park is celebrating a special birth. A critically endangered Eastern Bongo calf was born on Jan. 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The female calf weighed 38 pounds at birth, and she stands two feet tall. This is the fourth Eastern bongo born at ZooTampa since 2021. Her mother, 4-year-old Binti, was born at ZooTampa in May 2021. Her father, 6-year-old Marvin, arrived from Omaha\u2019s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in 2023. They were paired as part of the Eastern Bongo Species Survival Plan (SSP). This is Marvin&#8217;s second calf born at ZooTampa.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The zoo&#8217;s herd now includes eight Eastern Bongos: males Marvin and Mac, and females Blitzen, Lottie, Binti, Millie, Mira, and the new calf. She doesn&#8217;t have a name yet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to welcome another healthy bongo calf into our herd,\u201d Chris Massaro, the zoo&#8217;s senior VP and chief zoological officer, said. \u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud of our animal care team and the exceptional care they provide to all of our animals every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to ZooTampa, there are fewer than 100 Eastern Bongos left in the wild. Native to Africa, they typically weigh between 525 and 800 pounds.<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__placeholder\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/a138748d-c8b0-4e1a-83f6-320b84759eef_16x9.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__main\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/a138748d-c8b0-4e1a-83f6-320b84759eef_1140x641.jpg\"  alt=\"\" style=\"opacity:0\" onload=\"this.style.opacity=1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__placeholder\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/b0041cc5-a29b-4aa6-ac18-560751f53af9_16x9.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__main\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/b0041cc5-a29b-4aa6-ac18-560751f53af9_1140x641.jpg\"  alt=\"\" style=\"opacity:0\" onload=\"this.style.opacity=1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__placeholder\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/a8eadbe8-3245-4575-9384-feb9ed107228_16x9.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__main\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/a8eadbe8-3245-4575-9384-feb9ed107228_1140x641.jpg\"  alt=\"\" style=\"opacity:0\" onload=\"this.style.opacity=1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ZooTampa welcomed an Eastern Bongo calf. There are fewer than 100 Eastern Bongos left in the wild. TAMPA,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-118119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}