Belfast Zoo welcomes adorable new baby called Buttercup
Belfast zoo welcomed an adorable new baby Blesbok, the team there are the first zoo in Ireland to breed blesbok.
Buttercup was born on May 23rd to proud parents, Prosper and Bluebell, mother and daughter are both thriving.
Belfast Zoo is home to seven blesboks after our latest arrival. The blesbok is a subspecies of the bontebok antelope endemic to South Africa, Eswatini, and Namibia. It’s easy to distinguish them with a single glance. The vivid white forehead is more like a horse than an antelope and the V-shaped horns are beautiful to behold.
Females give birth to a single calf per breeding season. Unlike other antelopes, females give birth within the herd (babies become part of the group from the moment of birth) after an eight-month gestation.
Young blesboks are beige coloured and have dark coloured "blaze" on the face.
Blesbok calves can walk and follow their mothers within half an hour of being born. They are weaned by about 4 months.
Zoo curator, Linda Frew said “We are very happy with the birth of Buttercup, it’s always a special day when there is a new arrival in the zoo. Blesbok first came to Belfast Zoo in 2008 and we have been delighted with the steady increase of the herd.”
You can visit Buttercup in her home beside the Colombian Spider monkeys at Belfast Zoo.
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