Four places to see adorable baby animals

Baby kiwi at Rainbow Springs, Rotorua. Photo / Kylie Day

These critter-spotting locations around the world score high on the cuteness scale

1. Baby pandas

The ultimate adorable baby animal encounter can be found at the Panda Breeding Centre in Chengdu, China. Visitors can take a three-hour tour of the centre and see pandas at all stages of development — but it's worth paying extra to get up close and personal and have your photo taken with the smallest and cutest of the lot.

2. Baby bears

It's best not to cuddle with them, despite their cuteness — but you can still get a good view of baby bears by embarking on a special bear-viewing tour in Canada. You'll get the chance to see grizzly bears, Kermode bears and black bears. Visit in spring or summer for the best chance to see cubs with their mums.

A brown grizzly bear cub. Photo / Getty Images

3. Baby kiwis

They may be our national icon, but even New Zealanders don't see kiwi that often. At Rotorua's Rainbow Springs, you can see them when they're at their smallest. With a behind the scenes tour of the Kiwi Encounter, you'll get to visit the Incubation, Hatching and Nursery Rooms to see the kiwi chicks — and it's only $10. Every tour booked is also a 100 per cent donation to the kiwi conservation programme.

4. Baby orangutans

Orphaned orangutans have a home at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in Borneo. Founded in 1964, the centre's nursery houses around 25 of these babies, who are orphaned as a result of illegal logging and deforestation, or who were illegally caught and kept as pets. Anyone can visit Sepilok and a day ticket allows you to attend both feedings that day. You can even "adopt"a baby orangutan and contribute to its rehabilitation.