A baby Aardvark is thriving today thanks to quick action by a zoo keeper at Poland’s Wroclaw Zoo.

At 2:00 AM on February 2, after a long and difficult labor, female Aardvark Lotte finally delivered her baby.  Unfortunately, the little one was not breathing.  Zoo keeper Andrzej Miozga performed CPR on the cub for nearly an hour, and the cub survived. 

Photo Credit:  Maly Mrownik

Too exhausted from the strenuous birth, Lotte rejected her cub.  The little Aardvark is now cared for around the clock by a team of keepers, who feed him every two hours.  He has been gaining weight and developing normally.  Naturally, he is a favorite of the zoo’s care team.

Aardvarks live throughout Africa south of the Sahara Desert.  They use their pig-like snout to detect food and use their powerful front claws to break open ant and termite hills.  Insects are collected on the Aardvark’s long, sticky tongue.  Babies are born and reared in burrows.    

Africa’s Aardvark population is considered stable, and the species is wide-ranging and plentiful.