Rusk with ants in ZooParc Overloon: a giant anteater was born in the zoo. Mother Tousle and the still unnamed cub are doing well. In the near future, the baby girl from the zoo will sit on the mother anteater’s back.
“The newborn has the same stripe on its back as the mother. In the wild, this camouflage ensures that the young remain unnoticed by predators,” the keeper explains.
The zookeepers did not know for a long time that the giant anteater was pregnant, says zookeeper Max Kronier: “Giant anteaters live solitary lives, which means that they prefer to live alone unless the female is fertile. The mother is a bit older, but we still have put her with the man and we have seen matings.”
‘A matter of waiting’
For a long time it was unclear whether the breeding attempt had been successful. “The fur of the giant anteater is very thick. So it remained to be seen whether she was pregnant. At a certain point she became visibly fatter, then it becomes a matter of waiting and waiting,” says Kronier.
But after six months Tousle gave birth to her young. The zoo will only know after a while whether it is a boy or a girl.
Breeding program
The fact that ZooParc Overloon has added a giant anteater is good news. The zoo is participating in a European breeding program to build up a reserve population of the giant anteater, in case things go wrong in the wild. Mother Tousle has already raised three healthy sons.
In the wild the animal is having a hard time, especially because the habitat in the dry savannahs and in the rainforests is becoming smaller and smaller.