A giant anteater pup, a Bactrian camel calf and a baby white rhino with a royal name are just some of the 350 new animal births from 50 different species that Cotswold Wildlife Park has seen this year.
Members of the public named the new giant anteater pup Zena, the third breeding success for parents Zoro and Zeta since they arrived in 2010.
Giant anteaters are considered to be the most threatened mammal in Central America.
Jamie Craig, curator of Cotswold Wildlife Park, commented: “Zeta has again proved to be an excellent and diligent mother. We are extremely proud of her here at the Park and it is great to see another healthy baby growing rapidly and exploring her surroundings from the safety of her mother's rather formidable back!”
Elsewhere in the Park, keepers celebrated the arrival of the critically endangered Bactrian Camel, Petra. Bactrian camels like Petra are thought to be one of the rarest large mammals on earth.
It's also been a busy year at the park for primates and small mammals, with several new births to celebrate including Colobus Monkeys, Titi Monkeys, Cotton-top Tamarins, Dwarf Mongoose and Naked Mole Rats.
Section head Natalie Horner adds: "We're also thrilled with our latest additions to the Lemur troop, including the birth of one of the rarest primates on earth - the Greater Bamboo Lemur. With only 30 animals in captivity worldwide, every breeding success of this critically endangered primate is very important. We’re one of only two zoological collections to have successfully bred Greater Bamboo Lemurs this year.
"Lastly, our pair of Crowned Lemurs recently gave birth to twins."
The park is heavily involved in one of the UK’s most ambitious rewilding programmes – The White Stork Project - which aims to restore wild stork populations to Britain – a sight not seen since the 15th century.
This year saw its most successful stork breeding season in the park’s history, with a record 33 chicks reared and released into the wild, but the dedicated stork team at the Burford collection reached a milestone by breeding its 100th chick for the pioneering conservation project.
To find out more about The White Stork Project visit: https://www.whitestorkproject.org.
Other breeding successes at Cotswold Wildlife Park included African straw-coloured bats, dyeing poison frogs, prairie dogs, binturong triplets, parma wallabies, gundis, black-cheeked lovebirds, Pallas's cats and Queenie the white rhino who was named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee.
For more information, please visit: https://www.cotswoldwildlifepark.co.uk/conservation/
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