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The Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park are bursting with babies. Great news for conservation and international breeding programmes - and a delight for keepers and visitors alike.

Edinburgh Zoo has a new and rather shy Queensland koala joey. They also have their first litter of lion cubs in ten years. Head keeper Alison keeps a close eye on the new-born Asiatic lions on CCTV but her anxiety is soothed as first-time mum and dad, Roberta and Jay, turn out to be great parents. At the cubs’ first health check at nine weeks, vet Adam and the team discover that even at such a young age they can be extremely feisty and live up to their fearsome reputation.

The sex of a penguin can only be determined by a blood test, so the penguin keepers’ annual sweepstake is on to guess the sex of all the new youngsters. But they’ve noticed that young Nessie has a spinal deformity and the vets are called in to investigate.

In the Brilliant Birds exhibit, two rare swift parrots are brought together in the hope they will become a breeding pair, and senior keeper Sean is prepared to go to great lengths to give them the perfect love nest. At the Highland Wildlife Park, there is a healthy new addition to the herd of Przewalski’s wild horses – but one of the baby Bukhara deer needs urgent medical attention.

And there’s a problem for Sven the caribou when he damages one of his antlers. Concerned it may become infected, the keepers need to give him antibiotics and pain relief, which is easier said than done.