Zoo Beginnings--New Beginnings. It's just that--New beginnings at the Des Moines Blank Park Zoo. More than a dozen babies have been born in recent months.

Left: Baby giraffe, Lizzy, with Mama. Right: Lunch time. What's my food doing way up there?

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Meet Gigi--This tiny little Japanese macaque snow monkey is just a couple of months old.

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. (Isaiah 11:1) The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. --------for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (ESV) Isaiah 11: 6-9)

The signboard on the left, located on Beaver Avenue, reminded me I should get back to the zoo to see the baby rhino and other new babies at the zoo. I visited the zoo last October, the first day the baby Rhino accepted visitors. It was a lesson in patience--I leaned against the gate and waited over two hours--until the baby finished her nap. Nothing has really changed--when I arrived today (August 09,2017) I found baby Tumani and her mama asleep in the back 40. This time I didn't wait. I visited other areas of the zoo but went back many times until I finally found them up and about and closer to the visitors viewing area. I just love them.

More baby animals at the zoo: wallaby, eland, addax, and antelope.

I hope there will continue to be many "new beginnings" at the zoo and each year we will see more and more baby animals --especially with the endangered species.