Last month, at the SeaWorld amusement park in Florida, a whale grabbed a trainer, Dawn Brancheau, pulled her underwater and thrashed about with her. By the time rescuers arrived, Brancheau was dead.

The death of the trainer is a tragedy, and one can only have sympathy for her family. But the incident raises broader questions: was the attack deliberate?

Did the whale, an orca named Tilikum and nicknamed Tilly, act out of stress at being held captive in a sterile concrete tank? Was he tired of being forced to perform to amuse the crowds? Is it right to keep such large animals in close confinement?

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Auckland Zoo is celebrating the birth of its 29th giraffe, a male, born just after 6am on Friday. Standing 1.8m tall and weighing a healthy 55kg, the calf is yet to be named - keepers are waiting to see more of his personality before they decide.

The newcomer is the third offspring of 9-year-old mother Rukiya and 11-year-old father Zabulu, also parents to Forrest, now at Australia Zoo. Their first calf, born in 2006, did not survive.

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A 63-year-old elephant has died at the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens in Orlando. Zoo officials say the elephant named Mary died Tuesday of age-related illness. A necropsy is being conducted to determine the exact cause of death.

The zoo's director of animal collections, Bonnie Breitbeil, says that Maude, the zoo's other elephant, was able to say goodbye to Mary. Like people, elephants also mourn. Mary was born in 1946 and joined a circus in the United States in 1952. She came to zoo in 1983.

Mary liked when zookeepers rubbed her stomach and was known for sneaking up on new keepers. The Orlando Sentinel reports that according to the zoo, Mary was the third-oldest Asian elephant on record at an Association of Zoos & Aquariums-accredited zoo in the United States.

Baltimore, MD - We are happy to announce that the Zoo will open on Saturday, March 13 at 10:00 am for the 2010 season. A Grand Opening Weekend celebration is planned for Saturday and Sunday, March 13 and 14 when all admission prices will be reduced to $5 per person. (Children under two are always free.)

“This has been a pretty tough winter for all of us in Maryland,” said Don Hutchinson, president/CEO of the Zoo. “The Zoo suffered a great deal of damage.

But I am proud of the great work our staff did during the storms and the work they are now doing to clean up the campus and ready the grounds for visitors.”

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For a zoo, it's a quiet and lonely place. Among the few remaining residents of Paris' main animal park are the giraffes - whose long necks make travel inconvenient - and a hippo who was permitted to stay put after she threw a temper tantrum in a shipping crate.

Closed since 2008, and its animals mostly shipped abroad, the aging zoo in Paris' Vincennes woods has been awaiting a badly needed renovation. On Wednesday, officials finally announced a euro133-million ($181-million) overhaul through a public-private partnership, which they hope will create a zoo befitting one of the world's most beautiful cities.

The animal park, officially called the Zoological Park of Paris, will reopen in 2014. In the meantime, "the giraffes will oversee the construction site," said Bertrand-Pierre Galey, who runs France's National Museum of Natural History, which encompasses the zoo.

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Two non-poisonous snakes that escaped into an open drain at the Calgary Zoo have been located. The Malagasy giant hognosed snakes were found on Tuesday afternoon just below the drain in their enclosure.

A zookeeper had inadvertently left it open the previous afternoon, allowing the reptiles to escape. "A normal procedure that was put in place seven years ago when we opened the building wasn't followed," said Cathy Gaviller, director of conservation, education and research. "We recognize that's unacceptable. It was clear the snakes had made their way into the drain of the pool within their habitat after a routine cleaning."

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Dolphins can actually "turn on" diabetes and turn it off again depending upon whether there’s a lot of food available to them or very little, according to new research. The discovery of the mammals’ unique ability to switch in and out of having the disorder may one day help find treatments and a cure for diabetes in people.

Researchers think the dolphins’ habit of switching in and out of diabetes is due to a need to keep blood sugar levels elevated in order to nourish the animal's large brain. It may be an ability humans once had, too. Some 23.6 million Americans have diabetes, according to Pam Cooper, spokesperson for the American Diabetes Association, and 90% of these have Type 2 diabetes. About one in three diabetics don’t know they have the disorder, which contributes to more than 200,000 deaths annually in the United States.

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The eight-month-old panda cub Lin Ping has generated more than Bt13.5 million (S$573,487) in revenue in the first two months of this year, director of Chiang Mai Zoo Thanapat Pong-amorn said yesterday. According to Thanapat, Lin Ping's twice-daily shows have been the biggest earners for the zoo.

"Last month alone some 545,374 people watched Lin Ping shows and spent Bt3.4 million on tickets. In February, which has not yet ended, 146,328 people have seen the shows, generating revenue worth Bt1.4 million (S$59,469)," he said. The zoo's income has doubled since the birth of the panda.

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A record crowd turned out to help the Pittsburgh Panthers keep a very impressive record of their own in tact. Pitt used a 13-2 run midway through the first half to secure a lead it never relinquished as the Panthers improved to 7-0 at the Petersen Events Center against teams in the top five of The Associated Press Poll.

Ashton Gibbs scored a game-high 21 points, Gilbert Brown had 16 points off the bench and freshman Travon Woodall hit four free throws in the final 12 seconds as No. 19 Pittsburgh led all but 34 seconds of a 70-65 victory over No. 3 Villanova Sunday.

"The greatest thing about playing here is the Oakland Zoo," Brown said. "It's one of the toughest places to play for an opponent, because of the atmosphere. After every call or basket, the fans are cheering. It's one of a kind." Pittsburgh improved to 130-11 at home since the Petersen Events Center opened, but Sunday's crowd of 12,920 was the largest the building has ever seen.

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Officials at the Metro Toronto Zoo are mourning the loss of a 17-year-old Siberian tiger. Tonghua, who died Sunday was born in Switzerland but spent his last 10 years at the zoo in Scarborough.

Zookeepers could tell his health was declining in recent days. Over the weekend, Tonghua appeared uninterested in rabbit meat, usually one of his favourite meals.

Veterinarians at the zoo sedated him to run tests, but Tonghua never woke up. "He seemed to have a lot of problems — underlying liver problems, [and] an enlarged spleen," Dr. William Rapley, executive directory of biology and Conservation at the zoo, told CBC News on Wednesday.

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