It’s an exciting and critical time when a new baby animal is born, but this alpaca birth at The Bronx Zoo might be even more exciting because it happened while the zoo was open. Visitors and zookeepers alike watched from afar as Blanche the mother alpaca gave birth.
In this 2019 clip from Animal Planet’s The Zoo, Children’s Zoo Assistant Supervisor Tyrone Nickens assures that “once the shoulders come out, it’ll probably flop right out.”
Elias Venetsanos, Animal Encounters Collections Manager, also explains what the team hopes to see after the baby alpaca is born:
“…the next thing we’re going to look for is the baby to be able to stand, ’cause that’s going to be critical to successfully nursing from mom… It’s basically the first 12 hours, you’re looking for the animal to nurse, and if it doesn’t, then we’ll have to intervene. Just to make sure it gets the proper antibodies early on.”
Happily, the baby stands and latches not long after birth. After that, zookeepers will continue to keep an eye on the baby alpaca while they give experienced mother Blanche the room to care for it.
Watch more animal births on TKSST, including:
β’ Twin Sumatran tiger cubs are born at Australia Zoo
β’ Calaya gives birth to baby gorilla Moke at The National Zoo
β’ Baby Mangalica pigs are birthed in the forest
β’ The three different ways mammals give birth
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