I was deeply touched by this video. My first thought was that Barb is a totally special individual with greater gifts of resolve, ability and courage. A beautiful individual.
But then I realized that she might say something like, "Not at all. If I can do it, anyone can..."
Well, we can all try, because seeing Barb do what she does can inspire us with the possibilities.
She just "never gave up." It's amazing what we can do when we put our minds to it.
Update: 1:22 PM 10/8/2009 - Little Elke, just about one of the cutest little monkeys you will EVER see, is thriving and beginning to explore the outside world. She has graduated from her nursery and has taken her first steps in her tropical rainforest exhibit at the Taronga Zoo.
Elke a four-day-old Francois Lemur Monkey - Very Rare
Estimated Less than 1000 left on Earth
Adorable Video with Sweet Musical Background : )
Con'd from above:
Louise her surrogate mother says that little Elke is "very inquisitive and loves to explore and is full of energy and very active."
"During her outside forays she is accompanied by an ever watchful keeper as well as hot water bottles to keep her warm as the cooler weather approaches and like all newborns, her favourite teddy bear remains close by.
"She actually has quite a few 'favourite' soft toys, and can often been seen snuggling into them, leaping on them or using them as a launching pad to explore another area of the exhibit."
Elke's outside adventures take place when her Langur parents, first time mother 'Saigon' and father, 'Hanoi' who sadly rejected her at birth are inside their dens watching on. This allows Elke the opportunity to become familiar with their scent, taste the leaves that the adults also feast upon and become familiar with the area which will eventually be her fulltime home.
The infant's birth was a delightful surprise for keepers who discovered the bright orange baby in her parents' exhibit in early March. It is not uncommon for first time animal parents to reject their off-spring and with as few as 1000-5000 François Langur individuals left in the wild, Taronga's expert keepers stepped in to hand-rear the infant.
"There really have been no difficulties with her, she has been a model child, although her human parents are a little worse for wear, we are very sleep and literally moved into the Zoo to bottle feed and tend to Elke's every need," said Louise.
"As she gets older, things are getting easier. Her last feed is now at 9:30pm, which is much more civilised; initially we were getting up every two hours! Now with a full set of teeth, she has started to test out solid food including olive, poplar and fig browse and tips the scales at 680 grams, an average weight for an infant François Langur," said Louise.
Taronga's primate keepers will carry on hand-rearing Elke for many months and continue the slow process of reintroducing her to her parents. These remarkable dark-haired primates are quite unusual eating only certain variety of leaves. Francois Langurs inhabit tall riverside limestone crags in tropical monsoon forests.
~~~
Previously Posted:
Cutest little monkey you've EVER seen - this tiny little Francois lemur baby is extremely rare and endangered. She's bright orange, looks like a super cute little Ewok, super bright eyed, curious and playful. Precious beyond words...
~~~
'Elke' the four-day-old hand raised Francois Leaf-Monkey is shown for the first time at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. The Leaf-Monkeys native habitat is Northeast Vietnam and Southeast China
Elke is a bright-eyed five-day-old monkey who needs to be hand raised by staff at Taronga Zoo because her mother is not sure what to make of her... but she will be re-introduced later to see if they can be reunited. Her mother is very young and inexperienced, without benefit of having other monkeys around to learn from.
Born last Thursday, this wee little palm-sized francois langur monkey is making do with a warm quilt in place of her mum's belly and chest, which she would otherwise be in constant contact with, primate keeper Mandy McLellan told AAP.
So far the bright orange leaf-eating monkey is doing well.
and...
Cutest Little Baby Orangutan Pictures
Very precious pics, will warm your heart! : )
How adorable is that? - A dear friend sent me these... am posting because the pictures are so precious, human and sweet orangutangs (and animals in general) can be so similar. The photographer should be lauded for such an amazing job at capturing the pure innocence of these incredibly cute babies. Thank you, dear photographer, thank you for sharing.
"These 3 month old little Orangutans are at the ICU (Infant Care Unit) at the Bukit Merah Orang Utan island. Tucked away on the 35-acre Pulau Orang Utan, Orang Utan Island is the world's first and only 5-acre rehabilitation and preservation facility where Orang Utans roam free. The unique island serves as a breeding sanctuary as well as conservation, research and education center to better understand this endangered species."
"Aurora, a 20-year-old Beluga whale, swims with her calf after giving birth at the Vancouver Aquarium in Vancouver, B.C., Canada on Sunday June 7, 2009." Baluga Cam HERE (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)
Video of Baby Aurora's Birth
Little Aurora nurses from her mother Qila
The Baluga cam shows Aurora and her baby swimming around their enclosure. Wonderful! : )
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