[bright music] - Today, we're gonna talk about animal babies and how they're raised in the wild.

Whether it's a single parent or both, if the entire family helps out or if that baby animal is left to learn everything on its own, it's fascinating to see how animals are raised in their native habitat.

First, we'll start at our elephant yard and we'll learn about Asian elephant herds in the wild and how the whole family comes together to help protect the babies when they're born.

After that, we'll catch a ride with an anteater pup as it gets a piggyback ride from mom.

I don't know about you guys, but I cannot wait to see all these baby animals.

Let's go.

[gentle music] - [Narrator] Extended families like those seen in our elephant herd consist of a group raising their young.

This type of family could include moms and helpers, like aunts, cousins, sisters, or brothers.

Animals that live in extended family groups benefit because they include lots of protection, good role models and extra playtime because all of the babies live together.

With a large family, there's more protection for newborn elephants from predators.

[gentle music] The youngsters in the family will always have plenty of role models to emulate and many times will have several other young elephants their age to play with.

[gentle music] Usually there's only one dad, and he is often not directly involved but might help protect the large family, just like lions do.

[gentle music] Elephants travel in herds containing females and babies.

There's always a dominant female known as the matriarch that leads the group, but all the females will help the mother to care for and protect the baby.

You can see that now with our newest addition, Nelson.

[gentle music] This enormous bundle of joy was born on Tuesday, May 12th, at 6:30 AM to mom Shanti, and he weighed a whopping 326 pounds.

[gentle music] Nelson was born in the McNair Asian Elephant Habitat cow barn under the watchful eyes of his keepers and veterinary staff.

This is the sixth calf for Shanti, who's also mother to Baylor, Duncan and Joy, who turns three years old on July 12th.

[gentle music] Nelson raises the number of elephants in the Houston Zoo herd to 11, five males and six females.

[gentle music] Lots of animals are raised only by their mom.

They may never meet their dads.

Mother and me families consist of just that, the mother and her offspring.

This is a typical family structure with solitary animals like bears, most cats, crocodilians, anteaters, armadillos, most marsupials and some birds.

On the evening of March 31st, a baby anteater was born at the Houston Zoo.

[soft music] Baby Traci can be seen hitching a ride on mom Olive's back, and will continue to do so for nearly a year.

Giant anteaters spend the first few weeks of life clinging to their mothers and will typically hitch a ride on mom's back for almost 12 months.

[soft music] Olive has been very attentive to Traci, carefully nursing and transporting the pup on her back.

[soft music] Anteaters' unique coloring makes it easy for their babies to hide on their backs.

Anteaters have a black stripe that runs from beneath their snout to their mid torso.

The stripe is surrounded by white or cream colored hair.

And when a baby anteater is snuggled on top of mom's back, they practically disappear.

While most mammals have baby teeth that eventually fall out and adult teeth grow in, anteaters are special in that they don't have any teeth.

They use their long snout and long, sticky tongue to slurp their meals by creating a vacuum in their throat, sucking in the insects.

Their tongue can measure up to two feet long and use it to eat up to 30,000 ants in a single day.

[soft music] Speaking of dinner, anteaters feast on ants and termites but never completely destroy an anthill or termite mound.

They leave part of the mound intact so that the ants can rebuild and they can feed there again in the future.

How clever is that?

[soft music] In the wild, giant anteaters face threats resulting from habitat loss and agricultural expansion.

The zoo's anteaters serve as ambassadors for their wild counterparts, helping zoo guests understand this unique species.

The Houston Zoo is proud to support the Giant Armadillo Conservation Program, a group working to protect giant armadillos and anteaters in South America.