PHOTOS: 2020's Cutest Baby Animals Born At Elmwood Park Zoo

NORRISTOWN, PA — 2020 may have been a dark year, but, as always, the animal kingdom provided reason to smile.

Several newborns arrived at Elmwood at 2020, despite the unusual scheduled faced by both zoo staff and animals.

The zoo and its inhabitants were obviously without their typical interactions with the public for months at the start of the pandemic. When the zoo finally did reopen, it was welcomed with a destructive flood that ripped through exhibits and displaced 31 animals.

Nonetheless, the zoo managed to persevere, with new life peering out tentatively from the wreckage of the past year.

BUNGEE

Among the several critters born at the zoo in 2020 was a new white-faced Saki monkey, named Bungee.

Natives of several Central and South American nations, white-faced sakis occupy the lower stories of the rainforest canopy. They're small mammals, growing to just about 3.5 to 4 pounds.

Bungee's arrival came amidst much fanfare, with a gender reveal party held before his birth, followed by a public vote on his name.

Bungee will change as he grows, explains Elmwood's certified vet technician Kourtney Conti. "If the baby is a male, it will start to change into the male coloring around 8 weeks old. It’s face will turn tan/white and the rest of its body will change into black fur. It can take up to 4 years for a male to completely develop the black and tan coloring."

Bungee is the offspring of another Elmwood resident, Clementine, who arrived in 2018.

JUNIPER AND BRAMBLE

2020 also saw the birth of a pair of white-throated woodrats, named Juniper and Bramble.

Pictured above at five weeks old and below at six weeks old, the siblings are part of a species native to Mexico and the southwestern United States.

The zoo's fact sheets on Bramble and Juniper note that woodrats have extraordinary hot-weather resistance, as their native climes are brutally hot and dry desert. They can survive with very little water, and find shelter from the sun's rays in the sparse shade offered by desert thornscurb.

BLACK-TAILED PRAIRIE DOGS

The zoo also welcomed four black-tailed prairie dogs in 2020, joining a growing colony at Elmwood.

The zoo has been welcoming new prairie dogs, which have a 34-day gestation period, for years.

Described by the zoo as "extremely vocal," these vegetarian mammals produce a spread of sounds similar to a dog barking. They're native to states across the western and midwestern United States.

All images courtesy of Elmwood Park Zoo