Black and White and Cute All Over!
A male Grevy's zebra foal born at the Saint Louis Zoo on August 21, 2008 is now kicking up his heels with his mother and the herd at Red Rocks. "Kalama," named after a community in northern Kenya, weighed 105 pounds at birth after a 13 month gestation. This is the first offspring for the mother, five-year-old "Tiombe" and the 32nd Grevy's Zebra birth at the Zoo.
See video on KSDK.com.
This significant birth is a result of global cooperation among international zoos working together to conserve this endangered species. The father, "Goro," now deceased, came to the Saint Louis Zoo in 1987 from the Dvur Kralove Zoo in Czechoslovakia and sired 12 offspring, as recommended by associations of zoos and aquariums in the U.S. and Europe.
Disappearing Stripes
The Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Institute supports conservation of the Grevy's zebra and other unique species in the Horn of Africa region. In the last 30 years, the number of wild Grevy's zebras has dropped sharply, from 15,000 to fewer than 2,200, and today the species is considered extinct in Somalia.
Researchers from the Zoo and Washington University are observing the zebra family as part of an on-going mother-infant behavior study which will provide valuable data for zoos and researchers in the wild.
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