Calf

A leggy baby gazelle is the newest part of the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. The addra gazelle calf, named Elvira, was born the morning of October 30. The healthy baby weighed 11 pounds. Her parents are Pearl, who's 9, and Makuru, who's four. But because Pearl is showing no interest in Elvira, zoo staff has decided to hand-raise her. Peal gave birth to another calf, Ray-Ray, earlier this year.  “Because the calf is so significant to the overall population of this endangered species, we decided that a quick intervention was necessary in order to keep her healthy,"  Mike McClure, general curator of the Zoo, said in a statement.

A fuzzy baby Asian elephant, who hadn't been named when this picture was shot on Oct. 20, clings to its mother, Azizah. It was just two days after the elephant's birth at Whipsnade Zoo in southern England. The calf weighed in at 104 kg, making it the smallest elephant born at the zoo.  

With a flip in the water and a thrust of her tail, a pregnant Atlantic bottlenose dolphin delivered the second calf of the species to be born in the National Aquarium's 120,000-gallon maternity pool.The dramatic delivery at 6:30 a.m. yesterday by the 13-year-old Hailey ended several months of nervous waiting by her mammalogist keepers, who believed the pregnancy was proving difficult. They found late last year that Hailey was having liver problems, and feared that the mother would not be able to survive the birth.

A female dolphin calf that was born Sunday at the National Aquarium in Baltimore appears to be in "robust health," but her survival for the critical first year will depend on her mother, aquarium officials said yesterday. Chesapeake, a 16-year-old Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, gave birth at 7:13 a.m. to a 30-pound, 2- to 3-foot-long calf - her third since 1992. The mother will not appear in any shows for at least another year, a spokeswoman said. The birth comes about two weeks after the loss of a dolphin male calf, which was stillborn July 14. Aquarium officials are awaiting the results of a necropsy at the Johns Hopkins University's comparative pathology lab. "Since we put so much time and care into these animals, we're very excited with this calf's arrival," aquarium spokeswoman Jen Bloomer said.

Havre de Grace.--Anyone who's spent much time with livestock knows that emergencies occur more frequently on Sundays. This is a law of nature. So it was with some misgivings last Sunday morning that I went out to check the cows.I had a feeling that something was going to happen. This is calving season, the weather has been even harder on cows than on people, and the farm has had pretty good luck the past couple of years. Trouble was overdue.Actually, we've had some cow trouble already this season.

Browns running back Montario Hardesty still hopes to salvage what's left of his lost season. "I definitely want to finish out these two games strong," said Hardesty, who's carried the ball in one of the past seven games because of his torn calf muscle. "I've been really frustrated with this calf injury. It really hindered me a lot this year, but I have two more chances to go out and play. " Hardesty made the trip to Arizona and was active for the game, but stood on the sidelines and didn't play.

Havre de Grace. -- Sometime before dawn Wednesday, the red and white 2-year-old heifer I knew as 223 made a decision that would prove fatal.She had been carrying the big calf within her for more than nine months, and when the time came to deliver it she chose to lie down on a hillside next to a board fence. It was the wrong place. Somehow she managed to slide halfway under the bottom board and became wedged, unable to get up. By the time I found her and freed her, her calf was dead and she was in tough shape herself.

Marine specialists at the National Aquarium in Baltimore and Johns Hopkins University veterinary pathologists are looking into the death this week of the aquarium's youngest dolphin. According to aquarium officials, Bridgit -- a 4-month-old Atlantic bottlenose dolphin -- was the target of aggressive sexual behavior by two older male dolphins while other dolphins performed nearby in a late-morning show Wednesday. Toward the end of the 11 a.m. presentation, the young dolphin showed signs of fatigue after the encounter with the two males, according to Sue Hunter, the aquarium's manager of animal programs.

To train for athletic competition, you have to exercise hard enough to make your muscles burn and hurt. But pain can also be a sign that you've injured yourself. In order to tell the difference, you must listen carefully to your body.All training for competition -- to become stronger and faster and improve endurance -- involves (1) stressing your muscles, (2) allowing enough time for them to recover and then (3) stressing them again. When you exercise vigorously, your muscles become damaged; they will feel sore anywhere from eight to 24 hours afterward.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- For the first time this spring, Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo acknowledged that it is becoming more and more possible that right-handed reliever Todd Williams will not be ready for the start of the season. Williams, who was perhaps the Orioles' top reliever last season aside from closer B.J. Ryan, hasn't pitched at all this spring after departing the Orioles' second workout with soreness in his throwing shoulder. His shoulder significantly improved, and he was expected to throw batting practice earlier this week, but he was shut down because of a sore right calf muscle.