We’ve been celebrating a brilliant start to the year with the arrival of some animals that are seriously endangered in the wild.
Over the last six weeks, animals such a Sumatran tiger, a black rhino and a Rothschild’s giraffe have all been giving birth to babies at the zoo.
Curator of mammals, Tim Rowlands, said:
These special newborns have not arrived by magic – an awful lot of work has gone into breeding these critically endangered species.
Careful planning, excellent husbandry, expert keeping staff, top facilities, a detailed animal nutrition programme and scientific underpinning are factors that have all come together to achieve our latest breeding bonanza.
Every one of them – our three tiger cubs, baby Eastern black rhino Fara and Zahra our Rothschild’s giraffe calf – are all superb ambassadors for their species, which face very, very uncertain futures in the wild. When people come to the zoo and see how stunning they are, we hope they really take an interest in their plight and feel compelled to do something to help.