Three of Europe’s zoos have been in the news this week, two of them with baby news, and one with a story of a zoo-born cat that chose the wild.
In Portugal’s Santo Inacio Zoo in Vila Nova de Gaia, Roki, above, made his debut; he’s the newest pygmy hippopotamus and one of only about 2,500 in the world. Born at 7.4 kilos in February, he’s been kept under wraps while his parents home-schooled him in swimming and other hippo behaviors. His parents have three other children and two grandchildren.
Belgium’s Antwerp Zoo is expecting its first chimpanzee birth in 30 years at the end of the year. The pregnancy had to be approved by European authorities before the zoo took two of its adult females off the contraceptive pill they had been receiving.
And in Germany, a Carpathian lynx named Chapo, has taken up life in the wild. The zoo-born cat whose species is endangered, was part of a captive-breeding program intended to support regrowth of the population in the wild. But Chapo apparently had different plans, and after repeated escape attempts, keepers have decided to release him into the wild.
