{"id":168920,"date":"2026-02-25T18:16:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T18:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/168920\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T18:16:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T18:16:06","slug":"baby-boom-continues-at-zootampa-with-several-new-animals-born-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/168920\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Boom Continues At ZooTampa With Several New Animals Born This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TAMPA, FL \u2014 After the birth of Bonnie, a critically endangered Eastern bongo calf on Jan. 9, the baby boom continues at <a href=\"https:\/\/zootampa.org\/category\/zoo-babies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ZooTampa at Lowry Park<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>The new arrivals since the start of the year include a marabou stork chick, a hamerkop chick, and two African spoonbill chicks, zoo officials said in a news release. <\/p>\n<p>The births mark important milestones in the zoo&#8217;s ongoing conservation efforts, officials said. <\/p>\n<p>Deep within the zoo\u2019s African realm, the team welcomed a second critically endangered Eastern bongo calf, bringing the zoo\u2019s Eastern bongo herd to nine. Bennett, a male calf, was born to Blitzen on Jan. 21 and weighed 51.5 pounds. <\/p>\n<p>Also in Africa, the zoo celebrated the hatching of a Marabou stork on Jan. 29. The chick is the second for parents Will and Diana.<\/p>\n<p>Over at the Canopy Aviary, the hatching of a Hamerkop chick marks the first baby born of its kind at the zoo. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the species classified as threatened, the chick represents a vital conservation victory and a proud moment for the team, who have worked diligently towards this milestone. The chick is growing quickly and exploring beyond the nest, while the first-time parents continue to care for her,\u201d the news release said.<\/p>\n<p>The bird team also welcomed two African spoonbill chicks on Jan. 22, which are thriving and getting stronger each day.<\/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 vice president and chief zoological officer, said. \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":"TAMPA, FL \u2014 After the birth of Bonnie, a critically endangered Eastern bongo calf on Jan. 9, the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-168920","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\/168920","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=168920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}