{"id":167443,"date":"2026-02-24T20:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/167443\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:55:11","slug":"baby-boom-meet-the-newest-animals-just-born-at-zootampa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/167443\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby boom! Meet the newest animals just born at ZooTampa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The births are considered important milestones in the Zoo&#8217;s ongoing conservation efforts.<\/p>\n<p>TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 ZooTampa is welcoming new members to its array of animals after officials said the zoo experienced a &#8220;significant baby boom.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The new editions to the zoo include critically endangered Eastern bongo calves, Bennet and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wtsp.com\/article\/life\/animals\/baby-eastern-bongo-born-zoo-tampa-animals\/67-e0a2e8ff-8e2e-45b6-8af4-782123a13aad\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Bonnie<\/a>, who were both born in January. This brings ZooTampa&#8217;s Eastern bongo herd to nine.<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__placeholder\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/da32bfa9-07e6-417a-9796-2d67cd3aff09_16x9.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__main\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/da32bfa9-07e6-417a-9796-2d67cd3aff09_1140x641.jpg\"  alt=\"\" style=\"opacity:0\" onload=\"this.style.opacity=1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Credit: ZooTampa<\/p>\n<p>Eastern bongo calves at ZooTampa<\/p>\n<p>ZooTampa also had its first-ever birth of a female Hamerkop chick, which they say is growing quickly and exploring beyond the nest.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__placeholder\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ab681893-4d2a-4fc8-949d-20d972c9bfa0_16x9.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__main\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ab681893-4d2a-4fc8-949d-20d972c9bfa0_1140x641.jpg\"  alt=\"\" style=\"opacity:0\" onload=\"this.style.opacity=1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Credit: ZooTampa<\/p>\n<p>Hamerkop born at ZooTampa.<\/p>\n<p>A Marabou stork was also born in late January. The chick is the second for parents Will and Diana, who are sharing responsibilities for protecting the nest and feeding their baby.<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__placeholder\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/c590eb33-d545-4475-aab4-c1e75bce14bb_16x9.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__main\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/c590eb33-d545-4475-aab4-c1e75bce14bb_1140x641.jpg\"  alt=\"\" style=\"opacity:0\" onload=\"this.style.opacity=1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Credit: ZooTampa<\/p>\n<p>Marabou stork born at ZooTampa.<\/p>\n<p>There were also two African spoonbill chicks born at the zoo who were born in January and are said to be thriving and getting stronger each day.<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__placeholder\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/e3271be7-fe8d-4fe8-870a-865ee39b4208_16x9.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__main\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/e3271be7-fe8d-4fe8-870a-865ee39b4208_1140x641.jpg\"  alt=\"\" style=\"opacity:0\" onload=\"this.style.opacity=1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Credit: ZooTampa<\/p>\n<p>African spoonbills born at ZooTampa.<\/p>\n<p>The births are considered important milestones in the Zoo&#8217;s ongoing conservation efforts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t think of a better way to start the year than with all the new moms and babies,\u201d Chris Massaro, Senior VP, Chief Zoological Officer said in a statement. \u201cOur recent baby boom is a momentous occasion for wildlife conservation and a testament to the world-class care provided by the animal care teams at ZooTampa.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The births are considered important milestones in the Zoo&#8217;s ongoing conservation efforts. TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 ZooTampa is welcoming&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-167443","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\/167443","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=167443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}