What’s cuter than a capybara baby? Three capybara babies! One year after lovey-dovey capy couple Augustus and Clementine welcomed their first baby, Satsuma, they’ve become proud parents to three bundles of joy - and Drusillas Park zookeepers couldn’t be happier.
Drusillas Zoo near Alfriston are celebrating a boom of adorable ‘zoo borns’ in recent months, after the healthy arrival of some seriously cute little ones!
Visitors coming to the zoo over the summer can look out for tiny meerkats, monkeys, and mongooses playfully exploring with their proud new parents.
Born within a few days of each other, on 24th, 25th, and 30th June, three tiny squirrel monkeys can be seen sweetly clinging to their mother’s backs, peering out at visitors. Keepers have chosen to name them Mateo, Lucia, and Rafael in a nod to their native Bolivia, and the tiny infants have recently begun to open their eyes and are becoming curious about the world around them.
Continue reading "Zoo Celebrates Baby Boom with Arrival of 9 Adorable ‘ZooBorns’" »
Keepers at Drusillas are celebrating love, as a romantic Valentine’s meal they arranged for a pair of capybaras has resulted in the arrival of a beautiful capybara baby girl! She’s the first at the zoo in 11 years, born on 22nd June.
Continue reading "Happy For Capybara Offspring" »
Drusillas Zoo Park are ecstatic to announce the safe and healthy arrival of a beautiful baby sloth – who’s surprise arrival has delighted their team of keepers.
On the morning of 29th November, keepers couldn’t believe their eyes when resident sloth female, Halina, wondered down from her bed to say good morning and had a new addition tenderly clinging to her.
Continue reading "Drusillas Zoo Discover Sloth-tastic Surprise Baby!" »
Drusillas Zoo Park near Alfriston are thrilled to announce the safe and healthy arrival of a new baby colobus monkey, and they are asking for help to name the gorgeous youngster!
The precious youngster was born on 13th October, to mum Adaeze and dad Maarten, and Keepers at the Zoo are delighted with how the adorable babe is thriving so far.
Continue reading "‘Loser-In-Love’ Monkey Maarten Turns Luck Around To Welcome Fifth Baby" »
Drusillas Park’s Meerkats, Tamu and Tyson, welcomed twin pups on the 12th May 2021. In late September, the proud pair welcomed yet another 4 pups. It’s all part of a bountiful baby boom summer at Drusillas Park in East Sussex, UK.
Staff and visitors who were lucky enough to catch the first glimpses of Drusillas Park’s (Sussex, UK) tiny baby otters in late August noticed something rather unusual about the triplets – their otter-ly fabulous silver coats!
Born in late July, it appears the pearly pups have all inherited the extraordinary gene from their dad, Cheddar, with each infant boasting the same silvery frosted fur.
Not long after welcoming the new arrivals, Keepers noticed that the babies were nothing like any otter pups they’d seen before, and visitors could enjoy seeing Cheddar and mum, Halloumi-Bee, bring their babes out of the nest for the first time.
The triplets take Drusillas count for otter babies over the last couple of years to seven, bringing positive news for the species’ animal welfare throughout BIAZA collections. Asian short-clawed otters are classified as vulnerable as they are under threat from habitat loss and use in the pet trade, and Drusillas is proud to be contributing once again to animal conservation in this way.
Just a few weeks prior, Drusillas was overjoyed to announce the safe arrival of their ape-solutely adorable newest zoo born - a critically endangered Sulawesi crested macaque baby.
The Zoo team are elated to confirm that the cheeky babe, born on 22nd June to mum Kera and dad Moteck, is perfectly healthy, happy and headstrong, as it starts to brave life outside of the protective hold of its mother. The super cute infant has been delighting visitors by trying out some climbing, swinging, tumbling… and falling!
The Sulawesi black crested macaque is categorised as critically endangered in the wild, and is one of over 20 different endangered and rare species living at the East Sussex Zoo. Sadly the macaque population has declined by 80% over the last 40 years. The principal threat to their survival is over-hunting for meat. In Indonesia the macaque is considered a delicacy, and is often served for special occasions. Deforestation is another major threat to the species, with large areas of their habitat now being cleared for coconut plantations, garden plots and roads.
“As well as being totally adorable, the cause for celebration is that much more when we successfully breed a critically endangered species at Drusillas.” Continued Gemma, “The healthy arrival of this pair’s second baby provides a crucial boost for the macaque population, and we’re all really proud to play our part in keeping this beautiful primate from extinction.”
Thousands of people put forward names on the Park’s Facebook naming challenge at the beginning of August, and Drusillas have now confirmed that the baby has been named Kiwi!
A baby Sloth born at Great Britain’s Drusillas Park is the first ever born in the zoo’s 91-year history.
The little Linne’s Two-toed Sloth was born to female Sidone and her mate Sophocles on March 26. Zoo keepers had been anxiously awaiting the birth, and were thrilled to find the baby on their early morning rounds.
Photo Credit: Drusillas Park
Though this species of Sloth is not rare in the wild, births are not common in zoos. In the past year, only four were born in the United Kingdom and just 27 were born worldwide.
Because Sidone was hand-reared as a youngster, keepers were concerned that she would lack mothering skills. However, Sidone is proving to be an excellent mother to her new baby.
Sidone and Sophocles were introduced in January 2014, and like all Sloth activities, they took their time getting to know each other. After a ten-month gestation period, their baby finally arrived.
Linne’s Two-toed Sloths are native to northern South America’s rain forests, where they spend nearly all their lives in the treetops. Sloths are specially adapted to eat, sleep, and mate while hanging upside-down from a branch. They descend to the ground only to defecate and move to a tree that cannot be reached from their home tree.
Drusillas Park, in East Sussex UK, shared news of the birth of a Red Panda this summer. The female cub was born July 17th and is the third to be born at the zoo since 2013.
Mum has looked after the cub in the safety and privacy of their nest box. Although some have been lucky enough to see mum, Mulan, transporting her cub between nesting houses.
Photo Credits: Tammy Smith (Images 1,2,3) / Drusillas Park (4)
Head Keeper, Mark Kenward commented after the cub’s birth, “The Red Pandas have three separate nest boxes, and Mulan will move the baby from one to another, carrying her by the scruff of the neck, so she benefits from the most suitable environment.”
“Mulan is proving to be an excellent mother once again. For the first two days, she remained with her cub approximately 90% of the time. However, after a few days this dropped to around 60%, which is exactly what we would expect of this species.”
Drusillas Park has given the bashful new Red Panda a befitting name-- Shyla.
For the last four months Shyla has been hiding away within one of the group’s three nest boxes.
Visitors enjoy regular sightings of the panda puff as she pops her head out the hide away hole. However, despite multiple attempts by mum Mulan to encourage her out, the cozy cub cannot be tempted.
Zoo Manager, Sue Woodgate commented, “Shyla is yet to take those all-important first–steps exploring her enclosure, playing with her sister and meeting our visitors. We have no doubt she will appear in her own good time – her older sister Anmar also took a little while to venture out but you can’t stop her now. Fingers crossed Shyla will follow in her footsteps very soon; I am sure it will be worth the wait.”
The name Shyla was chosen from nearly 200 suggestions, made by followers, on the Drusillas Park Facebook page. Staff thought it a fitting moniker for the ‘peekaboo panda’.
As with the Giant Panda, female Red Pandas are only fertile for just one day a year and can delay implantation until conditions are favorable. They give birth to between one and four young at a time, and the cubs are born with pale fluffy fur, which darkens to the distinctive red coloration of the adults over the first three months.
In the wild, the Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens) inhabits the Himalayan mountains of China, India and Nepal, where they are threatened by habitat destruction and hunting. They are currently classified as “Vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
This is the second time Drusillas Park has welcomed Red Panda babies since Mulan’s arrival in 2013. On June 16, 2015, she gave birth to mixed-sex twins, the first of this species to be born at the Zoo throughout their 90 year history.
It’s panda-monium at Drusillas Park in East Sussex following the birth of two Red Panda babies; the first of their kind to be born in the zoo’s 89 year history!
As with the Giant Panda, female Red Pandas are only fertile for just one day a year and can delay implantation until conditions are favorable. Red Pandas give birth to between one and four young at a time and the cubs are born with pale fluffy fur.
This week we have teamed up with the lovely people from Drusillas Park to offer UK residents the chance to win some FANTASTIC PRIZES! All you need to do is LIKE AND SHARE both Drusillas' Facebook page and ZooBorns' Facebook page! The prizes up for grabs this time are.....#drumroll.....
- A COMPLIMENTARY FAMILY OF 4 TICKET TO DRUSILLAS PARK!
- A ZOOBORNS BOOK FEATURING THE CUTEST BABY ANIMALS YOU ARE EVER LIKELY TO SEE!
- AN EXTREMELY CUTE FENNEC FOX IPHONE 5/5S COVER!
- AND A RED PANDA TOY!
Good luck to all of those who enter! THE COMPETITION IS OPEN TO UK RESIDENTS ONLY!