The first baby zebra was born in the Kazan zoo “The Zambezi River”

The first baby zebra was born in “The Zambezi River” Zoo in Kazan. The offspring was given by a five-year-old zebra, who was brought to Kazan eighteen months ago. Zebras carry their babies once every three years – usually, only one is born, so such an event is quite rare for zoos. Mom and her baby are currently in the aviary and are not yet available for viewing by visitors. They feel good, and the newborn zebra is already learning to run. In the near future, the zoo will announce a contest to choose a name for a new animal.

The baby zebra was born on May 19. The caretakers temporarily named it Romashka. The name was given after his father, who became a 22-year-old male Romak from the Czech Republic. The mother is zebra named Tochka, who arrived to the Kazan Zoo in December 2022. The animals were purchased by the Mayor of the city, Ilsur Metshin.

“We are very happy with the striped replenishment in the “Zambezi River”. We have been looking for Chapman's zebras for a long time for the Kazan zoo. There were difficulties caused by the two-year coronavirus pandemic, then the political situation played a role. As a result, young zebras were found in a French safari park. The fact that Tochka became a mother so quickly, I think, speaks better than any words that these animals feel comfortable,”- Ilsur Metshin noted.

According to Tatyana Buslova, head of the Ungulates department at the Zoo, the cub and mother feel good, no veterinarian intervention was required. The newly-made mother and her baby were given a separate aviary. During the week, the newborn should not see other ungulates in order to remember what his mother looks like.

Zoo staff note the newborn's good appetite – it eats almost every hour, but little by little. Over the next two months, the cub will feed on its mother's milk. Later, Romashka will begin to taste the food of adult mares – hay, grass, concentrates, as well as carrots, apples, beets, potatoes and other fruits and vegetables.

Самой матери работники зоопарка предлагают пищу на выбор, чтобы у нее было много хорошего молока. После родов Точка сразу же начала сама кормить Ромашку, ухаживать за ней, защищать. Такое у зебр бывает не всегда, пояснила Татьяна Буслова.

Вчера Ромашка первый раз вышла из крытого вольера и стала учиться бегать. До этого малыш только подпрыгивал, стараясь повторять движения за мамой. В целом детеныш ведет себя спокойно, при этом проявляет любопытство – часто прячется за маму и выглядывает, чтобы понаблюдать за киперами.

Zookeepers offer the zebra a choice of food for a good milk production. After giving birth, Tochka immediately began to feed Romashka, take care of it, and protect it. This does not always happen with zebras, Tatyana Buslova explained.

Yesterday, Romashka came out of the indoor enclosure for the first time and began to learn to run. Before that, the baby was just jumping up and down, trying to repeat the movements of mother. In general, the cub behaves calmly, while showing curiosity – it often hides behind its mother and looks out to watch the keepers.

A week later, the zookeepers will open a pen with another zebra Babochka to introduce her to the baby. When Romashka grows up a little more, her neighbors on walks will be lychee antelopes, marabou and ostriches.

In the French safari park, the Zebra Tochka and Babochka were named Zeke-Zeke and Zak-Zak. However, the staff of the Kazan zoo noticed that on the back of one zebra the pattern resembles a dot, and on the other – wings. In order to make it easier to identify the animal, the keepers gave them their names – Tochka (a dot) and Babochka (a butterfly).

Presently, there are 134 species of animals in the Zoo. Last year, 10 species of animals were brought to Kazan from other cities: the spike-tailed lizzard, the fiery skink, the agama, the leaf-shaped and sedentary gecko, Svaino and Elliot's pheasants and the Asian elephant.