Zoology

Keepers only confirmed last week that mother Meng Meng was pregnant and she gave birth to twins on Saturday – the first pandas to be born in Germany.

The city council voted to modify bylaws, saying breeding will eventually be halted if they are not adhered to. Animal rights activists celebrated but some zookeepers are worried restrictions could do more harm than good.

No comment of the week: Royal baby, 'Archie', fawn rescued, Italian PM piece of street art.

In Crimea, a cat named Pusha has "adopted" four orphaned baby squirrels and is raising them as her own alongside her new kittens.

A routine medical check on a 12-year-old polar bear at Brookfield Zoo in the United States has been carried out to extract a sample for artificial insemination.

"To put it bluntly, it's a misfit. The white colour really catches your eye. It would be the first to be attacked by predators [in the wild]."

A wild elephant, rejected by his herd by another male, was forced to wander the streets of Meng'a Town in southwest China's Yunnan Province and destroyed almost 10 vehicles.

Four zebras escaped from a Christmas circus and were seen racing through Dresden, Germany on Monday (December 17) before being caught by police, German media reported.

A viral video showing a gigantic python wrapping itself around a hapless Indonesian villager has secured more than a million views, after locals wrestled with the serpent before successfully caging it.

Berlin Zoo released new footage of a six day old polar bear cup, snuggled up in mother Tonja's fur.

An 11-year-old South African boy takes care of rhino orphans by raising money on Facebook.

Two elephant calves at the San Diego Zoo were caught on camera enjoying an animated play session.

Trick or treatment? Programming zoo animals to keep calm for the vet

Dutch researchers have built a wing-flapping drone which mimics insect flight – and could teach zoologists more about how real insects' brains work.

If you're a night owl, then a visit to this Moscow cafe would be a wise choice.

A mammoth operation to remove infected tusk

Two pandas frolicked in their snow-covered enclosure as the first snow this autumn enveloped the Yabuli Ski Resort in Harbin, in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, on Saturday.

The Paris zoo of "La Menagerie" in the Jardin des Plantes gardens welcomed the birth of a Bornean orangutan named Java, the zoo's first since 2005.

For most people, sharing a living room with just one two-metre-long alligator is the stuff of nightmares; Philippe Gillet has two.

Rhinos at Israel's safari welcomed a 50-kilogram baby to the group on Sunday (September 16) the largest crash in Europe, according to the safari's spokeswoman.

An ostrich, who escaped from its home on a farm, was found running down the city streets in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Tuesday.

Keepers at London Zoo announced that they have managed to save a tiny penguin chick named Rainbow after its parents accidentally cracked its egg before it had hatched on Thursday (July 19).

Brookfield Zoo near Chicago says its newest addition is a baby prehensile-tailed porcupine, or porcupette.

Koko - the gorilla said to have been able to communicate through sign language - has died at the age of 46.

In an attempt to build herself a nest, the Audubon Zoo's 9-year-old orangutan, Menari, took matters into her own hands and made herself a winter wonderland of faux snow from a donated down comforter.

Four rare felines, known as the "world's fluffiest cats" have a new home at Chester Zoo, in the north of England.