Q:

How do baby animals that primarily subsist on cellulose get their initial gut flora?

In the case of mammals like giraffes and koalas, is that bacteria common on the plants they eat so when a baby starts to try to stick something besides its mother's milk in its mouth, it can't digest the cellulose at all the first time, but along with the cellulose, into its mouth went some cellulose-digesting flora that then begins a lifelong colony in the animal's gut? Is that about how it happens?

A:

I would not expect this to be any different than other animals - they get the flora from the environment. Key components of the environment for newborns are:

Birth canal
Den / living quarters
Skin / fur of mother, especially near the teats
Diet
Feces of family members (animals sniff this and aren't so clean)

A:

I don't know about ruminants, but baby rabbits (and presumably other lagomorphs) apparently acquire the necessary intestinal flora by consuming their mother's cecotropes.[1]
[1] Johnson-Delaney, C.A. (2006), "Anatomy and Physiology of the Rabbit and Rodent
Gastrointestinal System" (PDF)

