birth

Welcome to the world, new itty bitty kitties! You should know now, kittens, that your birth had some ups and downs, some worrying moments, some medical scares, but you got here, and you're in good hands - with one of the most adorable, derpiest, and cutest cat mommas in the whole world. 

The whole internet was enthralled by this birth, watching every step of it, rooting for the kitties and their mom, and finally - finally - KittensForDays's perma-blep momma gave birth. And yes, it was just as adorable as you imagine. So, thank you for sharing your story with the internet and making us smile, and we hope sharing it with more people will bring smiles to them as well. 

Welcome to the world, little cub! 

On Jan 26th, Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) announced that they The Singapore Zoo has welcomed its first baby lion cub conceived through assisted reproduction, and we are so excited. This is amazing news, giving hope to everyone that the more technology will advance, the higher the odds of us being able to preserve species and potentially even help save them from extinction. 

Read more details and check out pictures and video of the awwdorable cub and his mom below!

Rescuing a cat is a challenge - always, but us, cat lovers, sometimes can't help ourselves. When we wanna help a cat and set our minds to it, we will do it. But what happens if the cat you just rescued from the street starts getting fatter and fatter, and you think to yourself that it's just because you're feeding it so generously, and then a couple months later, that cat gives birth and you have an adorable squealing litter on your hands? Allow twitter users to tell you their stories. 

A tweet about @ParisZarcilla's amazing story went viral, and people started chiming in and telling their own stories of cats in their lives unexpectedly giving birth, and these stories are heartwarmingly adorable. So, check them out, and if you have stories like that of your own, come share them in our ICanHas Storytime Facebook community!

We've an update about one of the most positive stories to come out of 2020, and the update is just as wholesome as the original story. The (tiny) giant panda cub that was born at the Smithsonian's National Zoo three weeks ago has finally gotten a name, and it is the most appropriate and cutest name of all. Xiao Qi Ji is his name in Chinese, but it translates to 'little miracle' in English. 

The little giant panda has gone absolutely viral in the past couple of weeks after a video of his miraculous birth was released by the zoo, and since the world fell in love with the cub, the zoo decided to let the world participate in naming him. Of course, the internet does not disappoint when it comes to baby animals. 

We were given a choice of 4 names, and after three weeks and nearly 135,000 votes that have been cast, the adorable name 'little miracle' was chosen. The long waiting period was not an accident, it is part of Chinese tradition to wait 100 days before naming the cub. We wish the little cub luck and prosperity, and for his mother, Mei Xiang, to have many more adorable healthy cubs in the future!

Story via The Associated Press.

The human is pregnant, and a new little baby is about to join the household. And of course, Earnie can tell before even the humans can. There are signs of pregnancy everywhere, and Earnie has never been more excited to share the humans' attention with someone. 

Meowmoirs: it's time to welcome a very strange new kitten into the family.

Read about Earnie's reaction to his human about to give birth to a tiny new human and the things he does in the preparation for the new cub's arrival. Spoiler: Earnie is a good cat. 

Read last week's entry about the mimikitty - the cat in the mirror who copies everything that Earnie does here!

You can hop back to the first entry about the day of adoption right here as well. 

Starting off the day with a piece of incredibly happy news! A critically endangered black baby rhino was born in Chester Zoo, and we could not be any happier about it. There are only less than 1,000 of them left globally, so any new addition to the black rhino family should be celebrated everywhere. On top of that, the rare birth and the baby's first steps were all caught on camera!

Take a look at the footage below!

We all have a love for calico cats, all those botches of colors in random area over their fur, they're just way too cute. 

But have you ever wondered how calico cats give birth? Nah, us either. However, someone did, the artist Derek Achoy's girlfriend had a dream about a calico cat giving birth and the result was just too precious. 

Read on to find out for yourself:

Congratulations to the mother panda, Meng Meng, who has had many fruitless attempts in the past! The Berlin Zoo director, Andreas Knieriem, has announced that both the new cubs and their mother are doing well. 

After the birth of the first cub, Meng Meng gently placed her newborn on her stomach to warm it up. Shortly after, the second cub was born. 

According to DW, Knieriem has said although Meng Meng is a first time mother, she's "looking after her cubs in an exemplary manner." 

Seems like Meng Meng is a natural mother! Knieriem also added that the cubs have to, "drink every two to three hours ... and needed their mother to warm them."

Meng Meng and Jiao Qing (the cub's father) have been at the Berlin Zoo since summer 2017. The pandas are on loan from China.

Berlin's mayor, Michael Miller, had some words about the birth, "What great news! Berlin is happy about both newcomers and I congratulate Andreas Knieriem and his Zoo team."

As a finally note, it is stated that the newborn pandas will not be on public display at the zoo for the time being. 

Story via DW

Nature is magnificent!

Macaws are known as the giants of the parrot world and are informally classified into two groups: large macaws and mini macaws. Check out these amazing photos portraying the evolution on an Ara, one of the species at the large macaws group. Nature is indeed beautiful!

One lucky airline passenger ended up with eight additional carry-ons at the Tampa International Airport last week. Diane Van Atter got the surprise of a lifetime when her service dog, Eleanor "Ellie" Rigby, suddenly went into labor while they were waiting to board a Philadelphia-bound flight on Friday. Travelers and employees looked on as the two-year-old yellow lab delivered eight healthy puppies inside the airport's main terminal. Her owners reportedly knew Ellie was pregnant, but did not know how close she was to delivery. 

Boarding all passengers on this direct flight to adorable!

You're probably thinking that these pictures will be one of a cat giving birth... well, you are wrong! To show off her amazing photography skills and to let the world know she also shoots births, Elizabeth Woods- Darby, aka Barefootinthefog, captured her friends special moments with her cat...

Woods-Darby stated on her websit, "I had the sweet (and hilarious) honor of photographing the beginnings of a brand new family on Friday. This little man was adopted from Soul Dog Rescue. He is 22" long, 6 pounds 7 oz and man is he the sweetest cuddler. Thanks to Lucy Schultz for trusting me to be there to capture these special first moments[...]As a photographer and videographer, capturing birth and those raw first moments as a family, are incredibly rewarding. Although this shoot was unconventional, I've always been impacted by the beauty and raw strength of birth and adoption."

We couldn't have said it better, even if we tried! 

The post soon became a viral hit and so we just had to share! 

Paul Westover is the illustrator and mind behind these bizarre cartoons that make fun of illogical situations that arise during childbirth, but they also reveal what childbirth would be like if humans gave birth the same way animals do.