Best zoo animal photos of 2013

A 5-1/2-month-old male panda named Xiao Liwu has his head measured during a weekly checkup at the San Diego Zoo. The 14-pound animal is still nursing and just learning to munch on a slice of apple. The healthy panda was born here at the zoo and along with its mother has been on display for a limited number of hours since last week.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

A meerkat stands as a lookout while the others scurry around in their enclosure at the San Diego Zoo.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Just after daybreak, koala keeper Lindsay King fills the water containers and provides fresh eucalyptus for the koalas at the San Diego Zoo’s Australian Outback exhibit.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Two butterflies alight on Montana Ginn’s fingers at the Butterfly Jungle environment at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.   (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

A male Sichuan takin, right, that was born in January eats a meal of leaves with his mother and aunt at the Los Angeles Zoo.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

New baby panda Fu Bao in its enclosure in the Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna.  (Daniel Zupanc / AFP/Getty Images)

Meerkats play with a pumpkin ahead of Halloween at Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna.  (Daniel Zup / EPA)

A volunteer carries a baby red howler monkey at the Santa Fe Zoo in Medellin, Colombia.   (Raul Arboleda / AFP/Getty Images)

A peacock displays its feathers at the Lille Zoo in France.  (Philippe Huguen / AFP/Getty Images)

Children watch king penguins at the Zurich Zoo in Switzerland.  (ENNIO LEANZA / EPA)

A common squirrel monkey with a baby on her back in their enclosure in the zoo in Wroclaw, Poland.  (Maciej Kulczynski / EPA)

A 1-week-old female guanaco named Wiola runs at her enclosure in the zoo in Wroclaw, Poland.   (Maciej Kulczynski / EPA)

A lion named Nati plays with her cubs at Novosibirsk Zoo in Novosibirsk, Russia. The two lion cubs were born on Oct. 30.  (Ilnar Salakhiev / Associated Press)

Daisy the red panda paws at a branch coated with ice at the Denver Zoo.  (Brennan Linsley / Associated Press)

A young visitor looks at 2-year-old polar bear Luka swim at the zoo in Wuppertal, Germany.   (Roland Weihrauch / AFP/Getty Images)

Young capybaras and their mother in their enclosure at the Hanover Zoo in Germany.  (Christoph Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images)

After being given a treat of evaporated milk from a squirt bottle, Rajah the African lion licks the grate of his pen clean at the Denver Zoo.  (Brennan Linsley / Associated Press)

Ugandan giraffe baby Fritz stands next to his mother Jette at the Tierpark Zoo in Berlin.  (Maurizio Gambarini / AFP/Getty Images)

A male Sumatran Tiger cub named Bandar in a moat of the Great Cats exhibit at the National Zoo in Washington.  (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

Two polar bear cubs stand next to their mother Cora in their enclosure at the Brno Zoo in Brno, Czech Republic, during their first presentation to the public on March 16.  (AFP/Getty Images)

Keeper Sarah Hall helps count some of the meerkats as part of the annual stock take at Bristol Zoo in Bristol, England.   (Matt Cardy / Getty Images)

A ring-tailed lemur, left, sniffs at a tomato frog during an animal inventory at the Tierpark Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, Germany.   (Christian Charisius / AFP/Getty Images)

A white-handed gibbon clings to his mother, 24-year-old Phoenice, at the Philadelphia Zoo.  (Matt Rourke / Associated Press)

A female Bornean orangutan named Mari with her son at the Singapore Zoo.  (Roslan Rahman / AFP/Getty Images)