ANIMAL PLANET

New Rosamond Gifford Zoo director Ted Fox took over the keys in June after last year’s retirement of Chuck Doyle. Several resident animals added to the zoo’s population with the births of a patis monkey in January, a two-toed sloth in February and three Amur tiger cubs in May.

But the zoo’s most exciting news came with the November return of Asian elephants Targa, Mali and Little Chuck from exile in Toronto. The three pachyderms had been on sabbatical awaiting completion of the new elephant habitat, which opened last month.