Baby zebra born at Racine Zoo, and you can give him a name
The Racine Zoo announced it had added a new member to the family Christmas Eve with the birth of a new male Hartmann mountain zebra.
Patrons now have a chance to bestow the newborn with a name by participating in a silent auction; the winner will have the chance to work with keepers on the new name. The auction runs through Jan. 21.
“He and his mom are still getting time together to bond and know each other, so he’ll have a quiet first couple months of life,” said Aszya Summers, the curator of animal care and conservation education at the zoo. Visitors to the zoo will be able to see the new zebra in the spring.
He’s the first mountain zebra born at the zoo, the son of mother Promise and father Obi. The zoo joined forces with experts in San Diego and Disney’s Animal Kingdom to monitor the pregnancy and early days of the foal’s life. With fewer than 100 Hartmann’s mountain zebras in U.S. zoos, the species is considered “vulnerable”; they’re native to mountainous regions of Namibia and South Africa in areas where industrialization has encroached on their habitats.
“They’re different from what you typically see at a zoo; a lot of zebras in zoos are plains zebras ... and these only live in the mountains,” Summers said.
Summers said it’s common for experts in other zoos to share information and assist in the process.
“Each zoo isn’t an island,” she said. “Even for non-endangered species, we have species survival plans ... it’s a way to keep genetic diversity and keep healthy populations if reintroduction into the wild ever became a possibility.
We have 85 species here and have a dozen keepers; we can’t be experts in everything.”
Promise herself was born at Animal Kingdom on Disney’s campus.
The winner of the auction will be announced during a fundraising livestream Jan. 21, running from 7 to 7:30 p.m. and featuring more information on the new foal. Proceeds support the zebra family at the nonprofit zoo.
The 28-acre zoo, which is open year-round and located on the banks of Lake Michigan, most recently welcomed baby emperor tamarins (monkeys) Vinny and Valentino in early 2020, with another baby tamarin, Bella, arriving one year earlier. Before that, the zoo welcomed a new baby penguin named Harper.