As stories about a Chinese zoo keeper licking a monkey's butt in order to save its life go, this one from chinaSMACK is by far the most endearing. After a young Francois' leaf monkey in his care consumed a peanut that had been tossed into its enclosure, Wuhan Zoo employee Zhang Bangsheng noticed that the animal had become dangerously constipated.

A wild raccoon has moved into Heidelberg Zoo in Germany and keepers can’t kick him out. German daily Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung reported Friday that zoo staff recently discovered the uninvited guest inside the raccoon enclosure, where he seemed to be getting along fine with the seven original residents.

One very lucky Florida tortoise has been given a second chance at life thanks to his new, custom wheelchair. A tortoise named Scoot Reeves was injured by a front end loader in Milton, Florida. He was left with his back legs paralyzed and his shell cracked. Scoot was brought to Hillman Veterinary Clinic in Pensacola in bad shape and was at risk of being euthanized due to his poor quality of life. However, Vet Techs Sasha Corbett and Shannon Chavers figured out a way to get Scoot back on his feet again.

The Grady County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that all of the animals have been accounted for. TUTTLE, Okla. — The owners of Tiger Safari have confirmed that some of their exotic animals are on the loose. The wildlife refuge was hit by a tornado in the May 6 storms, and some of the animals have escaped.

A Japanese zoo has apologized for naming a baby monkey Charlotte after the newborn British princess following complaints at home. The Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden said Thursday it was considering renaming the macaque. It was flooded with angry calls and emails Wednesday hours after announcing the name for its first born monkey of the year, a tradition at the city-run zoo in southern Japan.

Authorities say at least four Norwegian teenagers are suspected of stealing a Humboldt penguin egg and three newly-hatched penguin babies from an animal park in western Norway. Police spokesman Yngve Skovly says seven people were seen on a security video climbing over a fence late on Wednesday to enter an enclosure where the three-week-old babies lived at the Atlanterhavsparken saltwater aquarium outside Aalesund.

One of San Diego's oldest residents has died. The Los Angeles Times reports that the Galapagos tortoise known as Speed has been euthanized at an estimated age of more than 150 years. Speed had been living at the San Diego Zoo since 1933. He was brought to California as part of an early effort to preserve the endangered species from the Volcan Cerro Azul Island of the Galapagos Islands, off Ecuador.

Last week, a flood in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi killed 19 people, with six still missing. Rain caused the Vere River to burst its banks, flooding the city and its zoo, killing animals and allowing others to escape. Initially, all of the zoo's seven tigers and eight lions were thought dead, but last Wednesday a man was killed by an escaped tiger, prompting Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili to criticize zoo officials for providing false information.

Scientists have found a new centipede under mountains in Croatia. It was named Geophilus hadesi after the Greek god of the underworld. The fearsome predator has powerful jaws and poison glands and it is one of only two centipedes that spends its whole life underground.

I took some photos today at the Toledo zoo.

The white-headed buffalo weaver is native to the African countries of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda

Jia Jia eats bamboo next to her birthday cake made with ice and vegetables at Ocean Park in Hong Kong as she celebrates her 37th birthday. Jia Jia broke the Guinness World Records title for “Oldest Panda Living in Captivity."

For the second time in less than a year, a giant panda is making headlines for acting pregnant to get more snacks, fancier accommodations, and round-the-clock care out of zookepers. Taipei Zoo officials were reportedly thrilled in early June when their 11-year-old panda Yuan Yuan, who'd recently been artificially inseminated, started showing signs that the procedure had been successful.

Julia Adeney Thomas reviews Ian Jared Miller’s “The Nature Of The Beasts: Empire And Exhibition at the Tokyo Imperial Zoo.” (January 2014)

Guereza monkeys (Colobus Guereza) hold a newborn baby at Prague Zoo, Czech Republic. The guereza monkey baby was born on July 31, according to the zoo

Snow leopard mother Siri stands next to her male cub Barid at the zoo in Cologne, western Germany.

White-crested Laughing Thrushes are an incredibly social species native to the teak and bamboo-covered foothills of the Himalayan Moutains.

This crane is listed as Vulnerable because it is thought to be experiencing a rapid and on-going population decline, largely as a result of the loss of wetlands to agriculture and economic development.

Images of the Golden Pheasants at the Columbus Zoo

Harapan, who resides at the Cincinnati Zoo, will fly to south-east Asia where most of the estimated 100 remaining rhinos live.

Two new babies at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aaquarium are getting a lot of attention, because they are birds you can see in only a few places across the country.

The Indianapolis Zoo issued a Code Red Sunday morning after a cheetah escaped from its enclosure. RTV6 sales rep Angela Knight was at the zoo with her family around 9:30 a.m. Sunday when she says the Code Red was issued and zoo staff told everyone to shelter inside due to a cheetah being on the loose.

One of only four northern white rhinos believed left in the world died Sunday at San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Nola, a 41-year-old female who has been at the park since 1989, was euthanized after her health took a turn for the worse, a zoo statement said. The geriatric rhino had arthritis and other ailments and was being treated for a bacterial infection linked to an abscess in her hip.

Hanako the elephant has been living in a concrete cell for 61 years. And now people are saying that's enough. At 68 years old, Hanako is the oldest elephant in Japan. She's spent the past six decades at Tokyo's Inokashira Park Zoo, where she lives alone in a barren enclosure. There's no grass or trees — only concrete floors and walls. It's unclear when she last saw another elephant. For the love of animals. Pass it on.

The fight that erupted between the female baboons prompted a brief closure of the zoo’s exhibit. Medical records show injuries ranging from deep lacerations near their eyes to hair ripped out and tail injuries. By Liam Casey.

After the matriarch died last year, a vicious battle erupted among the female baboons at the Toronto Zoo for her throne that endured for months, prompting a brief closure of the exhibit and providing a fascinating glimpse into the animals’ behaviour. Medical records show numerous injuries among five of the six female olive baboons, from deep lacerations near their eyes to hair ripped out and tail injuries. At least two required surgeries to close deep gashes.

Cute little trick, great reaction from the monkey.

This 14-year-old female Orangutan builds a hammock all on her own. Which is incredible, but how tragic for such an intelligent animal to be trapped in a cage. For clarification: we are not affiliated with the zoo where this orangutan is kept.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has approved an application from zoos in Dallas, Wichita and Omaha to import 18 wild elephants from Swaziland.The transfer involves 15 female and three male elephants estimated to range from six to 25 years old. The permit allows a partnership formed by the zoos to import the elephants from Big Game Parks, an independent nonprofit that manages several wildlife parks in the Southern African Nation.

A meerkat enjoys the warmth of a heat lamp while standing in the meerkat enclosure at wildlife park "Opel Zoo" in Kronberg, Germany, March 20, 2016.

A zookeeper has been mauled to death by a tiger at a zoo in Florida. Stacey Konwiser, 38, known as a "tiger whisperer" because of her skill in dealing with the animals, suffered a “severe bite” while performing basic tasks in the tiger enclosure at Palm Beach Zoo. She had reportedly been preparing for a 'Tiger Talk’, a regular show for zoo visitors that she carried out daily, when the incident occured. She was rushed to St Mary's Medical Centre but later died from her injuries.

The Cincinnati Zoo shot and killed a western lowland gorilla on Saturday after a 4-year-old boy slipped into the animal's enclosure, a zoo official said at a news conference. Harambe, a 17-year-old, 400-pound gorilla, carried the boy around its habitat for about 10 minutes in what the zoo's dangerous animal response team considered a life-threatening situation, Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard said at a press briefing. After the gorilla was shot with a rifle, the child was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, CNN affiliate WKRC reported.

Hanoko, which means “flower child,” lived almost her entire life at Tokyo’s Inokashira Park Zoo. By Christopher Brennan. (May 26)

Are zoos really effective at education and conservation? Anthropologist Barbara J. King offers her top reasons why it's time to rethink the role of zoos.