As we reflect on an impactful 2025 at our Zoo, we want to highlight some of the amazing wins we’ve had in animal wellbeing, conservation and education. Your support helped make these success stories possible – thank you. Be on the lookout for our 12 impactful moments of 2025 here on the blog and on our social media channels! If you’d like to continue supporting us, we hope you’ll consider making a donation to us this holiday season. Thanks to our generous matching donors, the first $30,000 in donations will be matched dollar for dollar, making these gifts even more joyous. 

We’re starting our celebration with one of the most treasured moments of the year: welcoming new babies! Each of these little ones are so special to our Zoo and beyond. Their parents are often carefully paired to sustain a healthy, genetically diverse species in organizations accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Each is a safeguard for their species in their native range, which are often facing a number of threats.  

For our Zoo, there’s a special joy that comes with watching all the milestones these little ones reach during their first year with us. Read on to hear how each of this year’s babies are doing now! 

Conservation 

Our Zoo has established conservation breeding programs for two critically endangered native Florida species: Florida grasshopper sparrows and Perdido Key beach mice. In our behind-the-scenes spaces, our conservation team welcomed 57 sparrow chicks and seven beach mice pups this year alone! 

Many of our sparrow chicks have been released back to their native range in order to bolster those populations. Any remaining chicks will stay at our Zoo or move to another partner organization to introduce new genetics to those conservation breeding program groups. 

Our beach mice pups will remain with us for now, with the plan to release them back to Perdido Key if those native populations are threatened.  

Expedition Africa 

You herd it here first – our Expedition Africa residents had another exciting year of welcoming little ones! 

Our Eastern bongo herd only continues to grow! In April, our Sebastian and Amara welcomed a female calf, lovingly named Cinnamon Muffin by our animal care team. This species is critically endangered, making every birth a win!  

Cinnamon Muffin has acclimated to life in our trainyard with our other bongo, Watusi-Ankole cattle and impala well. She has started growing horns! Cinnamon Muffin is just as sweet – and tall – as her mother, said Africa Barn Area Supervisor Tammi Thompson-Cunigan. 

“Big brother, Azizi, is always hanging out with his sister and they often zoom around in the morning,” Tammi shared.  

Over on our veldt (the Expedition Africa habitat our giraffe enjoy), a baby has just made his debut: Bolt the Grévy’s zebra foal – another critically endangered species! Bolt spent most of his early days in our Trainyard as he and mom, Iggy, bonded. Bolt has acclimated well to his new habitat with its interesting new creatures – giraffe and ostrich – and the rest of the Grévy’s zebra herd.   

“Iggy is such a good mom and stays by him, making sure he is safe when he is napping,” Tammi said.  “He’s still a little shy toward his keepers, but mom allows us to let him come up and sniff us if he wants to.”    

“His name is perfect because he will be calm one moment then be bolting the next.”    

Also on the veldt: two new members of our impala herd! Named after condiments, Kimchi and Italian Dressing move well with the herd at about 2 months old. According to Tammi, Kimchi and Italian Dressing are growing up quickly – and are nearly as big as their moms.    

“You can often see them on the veldt playing together and running and jumping everywhere,” Tammi said.   

Lands of Change 

It was yet again an egg-cellent year for our Lands of Change team, with two roseate spoonbill, two tawny frogmouth, and (almost) countless cockatiel chicks hatched! 

In March, roseate spoonbills Spork and Rosa welcomed the first set of chicks for our Zoo since 2020! This species fledges, or leaves the nest, just a few short months after hatching, so the siblings have since moved to our Flooded Forest habitat in Rainforest Revealed. They’re thriving in their new home, which they share with howler monkeys, turtles and a number of other bird species.  

“They are enjoying their time in the Flooded Forest aviary in Rainforest Revealed!” said Curator of Animals Michelle Johnston. “This gives them even more space. They are doing really well!” 

While our tawny frogmouths Dijon and Hotdog produced two viable eggs this year, the pair has a history of not caring for their eggs, so the new set was pulled for incubation and handraising with our animal care team. The result? Bunn and Heinz the tawny frogmouths! After round-the-clock care from our animal care team, the siblings began the slow introduction process to the rest of their habitat mates in Lorikeet Landing, including fellow frogmouth Tater Tot! All are well.  

As temperatures continue to lower, they have started bulking up. This species goes through torpor, but only for a few hours at a time when it’s cold to conserve their energy.   

“You will frequently find them roosting during the day either on some signs, down low, or underneath the pergola,” said Johnston. “They are active at night, so it’s nice for guests to be able to see them during the day easily.”  

Rounding out our egg-citing year – a bevy of cockatiel chicks! Nesting season for this species is very involved for our animal care team, who constantly check nestboxes to monitor chicks and parents to ensure all are well. Some chicks in need of extra TLC were brought to our L3 Harris Animal Care Center for handraising – and even went home with our team for overnight care. These little ones are no longer so little – they are almost indistinguishable from the adult members of their flock!  

“The cockatiels are doing really well in the aviary! Last month we replaced all of the perching and they have been enjoying their new areas,” Johnston said. “You can usually spot these guys from the others because they have no personal bubble and will land on your heads or just hang out on your shoulder.” 

Our Lands of Change newbies for 2025 aren’t only of the bird variety! Two north Sulawesi babirusa piglets were born to mom, Piggy, and dad, Meru, in August. A first for our Zoo: a female piglet! Lovingly nicknamed Ruby and Max by their animal care team, the duo is now starting the slow process of exploring their multiple habitats with Piggy. These smarty-pants now also voluntarily weigh themselves, which is helpful to monitor their growth!  

They haven’t shared a habitat yet with Meru or their older brothers Merry, Pippin and Billy yet – but that will come as they continue to grow in size and confidence!  

“They always have the zoomies!” said Johnston. “Ruby is very brave while Max is a little more cautious. These guys are eating solid food while still nursing from Piggy.”  

Rainforest Revealed 

Look up in the sky tunnels or habitats of our Rainforest Revealed loop, and you’re likely to spot one of this year’s babies! We started off the year with the birth of Dot the cotton-top tamarin, a win for (you guessed it) this critically endangered species. This spunky girl is growing more confident each day and is very vocal – especially when she’s trying to make a point or draw some attention.     

“During training sessions, she often waits to see her brothers attempt a behavior first—just to make sure it’s safe—but once she’s comfortable, she eagerly jumps in and gives it her all,” said keeper Dani. “She’s now crate trained, scale trained and target trained, and she continues to make steady progress.”    

She’s growing into a smart, curious, funny and incredibly loving cotton-top. She reminds her keepers of her father, Cricket, who passed away in 2024.     

“We see so much of her father, Cricket, in her personality,” Dani said. “She’s a daily reminder of his legacy and a truly special addition to our troop.”    

Our black-handed spider monkey troop welcomed a surprise infant this year as well, like Baby Joe.     

Baby Joe is becoming an independent young monkey, finding his voice, and growing more confident every day, said keeper Kaylyn. Lately, he’s been playing more with other adolescents in the troop, coming to interact with keepers and beginning to vocalize.   

“He’s also making great progress in his training, learning hands and station very quickly for his age!” Kaylyn said.     

We marked our second year of welcoming white-nosed coati kits after years of not having any births at AZA-accredited organizations. Ash and Twig remain with us for now, while Scrit and Scrat the coatis moved to another AZA-accredited zoo earlier this year – and Cedar moved to another AZA-accredited zoo just a few weeks ago.    

“Ash, Twig and Cedar have been rambunctious, playful and “wild” from day one,” said keeper Anna.   

Within two training sessions, the trio were all able to “target,” or touch their nose to a special stick, with ease. In addition to being scale trained, they are also crate trained! This came in handy when Cedar departed last week to go to another facility.     

“While we’ll miss him, I’m happy that he started his journey to his new home by voluntarily crating!” Anna said.