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CHESTER ZOO’S TOP 10
BABY ANIMALS 2018
Conservationists at Chester Zoo have celebrated an unprecedented number of
births in 2018 - including some of the world’s rarest and most at risk species.
Here are the top 10 baby animals of 2018.
1. Precious sun bear cub Kyra is first of her kind to be born in the UK
Adorable cub Kyra was the first sun bear
to ever be born in the UK. Her birth was
caught on the zoo’s CCTV cameras and
has since become a viral sensation online,
with millions of people around the globe
watching her tender first moments with
mum after being born. Kyra is particularly
important given the remarkable survival
story of her parents, Milli and Toni, who were both rescued from poachers
in Cambodia. Snatched from the wild as young bears by illegal wildlife
traders, the pair were kept as mistreated pets after seeing their own parents
killed in the process.
2. Baby Stevie is the arrival of the decade… for Chester’s chimpanzees
Critically endangered Western chimpanzee Stevie,
born to mum ZeeZee, was the first of her kind to
be born at Chester Zoo for nearly 10 years. Her
birth followed a scientific project, spanning several
years, which carefully assessed the genetics of all
chimpanzees in zoos across Europe. The study
confirmed that the troop of chimps at Chester is the
highly threatened West African subspecies – one
of the rarest in the world – establishing them as a
critically important breeding population. Keepers
at the zoo have a longstanding tradition of naming new-born chimpanzees
after musical legends, with Stevie chosen in honour of singer/songwriter
Stevie Nicks. Others include Dylan (Bob), Eric (Clapton), Tina (Turner)
and Carlos (Santana).
3. Elephant calf Anjan astonishes scientists after being born three months
after expected due date
After an unusually long pregnancy believed
to have lasted 25 months, Asian elephant
Thi Hi Way gave birth to a healthy male
calf, who keepers named Anjan. Experts
and scientists at the zoo suspected mum Thi
had started a natural resorption process after
hormone tracking showed that she was due
to give birth three months prior, and she was slowly returning to her normal
weight. Despite the unusual circumstances, Thi delivered a healthy calf – an
invaluable addition the breeding programme for the endangered elephants.
4. Greater one-horned rhino calf Akeno gives new hope to species
The momentous birth of greater one-horned
rhino calf Akeno, born to mum Asha, was
captured on CCTV cameras at the zoo. Keepers
watched on as Asha delivered her calf safely
onto to soft bedding after a 16-month-long
gestation, and 20 minute labour. At one stage,
the greater one-horn rhino was hunted almost
to extinction and less than 200 survived in the
wild.
5. Secretive okapi calf Semuliki is a star in stripes
Rare and elusive okapi calf Semuliki arrived to
first-time parents K’tusha and Stomp. The male
calf shares his name with a major national park
and river that runs through the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and East
Africa. The okapi is found only deep in the
forests of the DRC and its highly secretive
nature contributed to it being completely unknown to science until 1901
when it was, finally, first discovered.
22 wirrallife.com
6. Tiny forest dragons help uncover new information about the species
A clutch of rare baby ‘forest dragons’ hatched at the zoo,
helping conservationists to uncover more about one of the
world’s least understood reptile species. The emergence
of the four Bell’s anglehead lizards gave scientists further
insights into the secrets about their breeding patterns, life
cycle and how they live.
7. Rare silvery gibbon adds to record baby boom at the zoo
A tiny silvery gibbon arrived to mum Tilu. The
birth of the little youngster astonished visitors
to the zoo who were able to admire Tilu’s
precious newcomer as she proudly showed it
off just minutes after its birth. Conservationists
also hailed the arrival of the highly endangered primate with just 4,000 of
its kind now remaining on the island of Java, Indonesia, where the species is
now listed as endangered by the IUCN. Hairless and sporting a pink face for
now, Tilu’s baby will develop its iconic silver fur over the next few months.
8. Fluffy flamingo chicks are pretty in pink
Keepers were tickled pink by the arrival of 21 flamingo
chicks. Each of the fluffy newcomers was carefully hand
fed by the zoo’s bird experts four times a day for five
weeks until they were developed enough to fully feed
for themselves. The group of youngsters then moved
to another zoo to help form a brand new colony as
part of the breeding programme for the iconic birds.
Flamingo chicks are white or grey in colour when they
first hatch, resembling little balls of cotton wool, and
begin to develop their famous pink plumage at around
six months old.
9. Tiny babirusa triplets arrive in zoo ‘first’
Not one, not two, but three of the world’s rarest
pigs were born to mum Kendari after a six month
pregnancy. It’s the first time ever that a set of
babirusa triplets have been born at the zoo. The
phenomenon only happens in around four percent
of babirusa births, so the tiny trio are huge boost
to the species which has experienced a recent population crash on the island
of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Once considered fairly common, the rapid decline
comes as result of hunting for their meat and habitat loss, which has seem
them disappear from many parts of the island.
10. Black rhino birth a surprise to visitors
The arrival of Jumaane, an incredibly rare Eastern
black rhino calf, left a handful of lucky zoo visitors
in shock as his birth took place right in front of
them. Typically, most rhino births happen at night
or in the early hours of the morning but 12-year-
old mum Malindi went into labour at noon, much
to the amazement of onlookers. Jumaane was delivered less than 30 mins
later. Conservationists now estimate that fewer than 650 Eastern black rhino
remain across Africa – a staggeringly low number driven by an increase in
poaching to meet demand for rhino horn, which supplies the traditional
Asian medicine market.