A Cute Attack from Mother Nature

NatGeo’s new series on saving baby animals in the wild

Zoologist Martin Hughes-Games at an elephant sanctuary

According to the old TV commercial for margarine, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!” That may be, but there’s a touch of benign deception going on in the first episode of Nature’s Miracle Babies, the latest offering from NatGeo Wild.

Pandas are seriously endangered, but at a wildlife sanctuary in China, these super-cute babies and their mothers are getting state-of-the-art care.

Zoologist Martin Hughes-Games travels the world, visiting sanctuaries and special-care facilities for baby pandas, leopards, elephants and more. For those of us at home, it’s just one “cute attack” after another.

And nice to know that although there are zoos involved, this is not about breeding for zoos; it’s about animals in the wild who need all the help they can get these days to be able to survive and thrive.

As for that touch of benign deception: it involves a quick switcheroo of two twin pandas so they both get the best chance. And if mama doesn’t seem to mind – or maybe just doesn’t notice – Mother Nature will doubtless agree that it’s all good news for pandas.

Nature’s Miracle Babies begins on Tuesday, September 13 on NatGeo Wild.

Posted September 12, 2011, by Michael Mountain