Whipsnade Zoo celebrate first Mother's Day for world's rarest pig
Prepare for cuteness overload...
Keepers at Whipsnade Zoo have shared heart-warming photos of three-month-old Critically Endangered Visayan warty piglet Tadeo snuffling for sweetcorn with mum Tess, to celebrate their first Mother's Day together at the conservation zoo.
Tadeo was the first ever Visayan warty pig to be born at the conservation zoo, and his stripy arrival late last year was a boost for the threatened species, known as the world’s rarest pig due to their being fewer than 200 left in the wild.
Zookeeper Donovan Glyn said:
“Tadeo isn’t just important to his mother Tess - who has diligently cared for her first little one since his December arrival, barely letting him out of her sight - but also to his species.
"Visayan warty pigs are Critically Endangered and Tadeo is part of an important European-wide collaborative breeding programme for the species.”
Known for their rockstar mullets and resemblance to humbug sweets when they’re young, Visayan warty pig numbers are heavily in decline.
These swines hail from just six small islands in the Philippines, where deforestation has devastated their populations, leaving just small pockets on two of the six islands.
Three-month-old Tadeo, which means ‘praise’ in Filipino, has been progressing well since his exciting birth, hitting a number of important milestones.
The team at Whipsnade Zoo say Tadeo was particularly intrigued by the recent cold snap, exploring his white blanked surroundings last week, while Mum Tess and Dad Mannie looked on.
“Tadeo is very social and playful,” said Don.
“He’s enjoying exploring his woody, muddy environment and testing out his terrific sense of smell by seeking out tasty snacks hidden by zookeepers; at the moment his favourite food is sweet corn.”
Apparently Tadeo loves corn so much, he likes to steal it from his Mum and the other pigs!
But Zookeeper Christina Finch hopes he'll be a good boy and leave some treats for Tess on Mother's Day.
"He tries to steal everyone else's food now that he's on solids. His favourite - corn on the cob - he'll even steal it from his Mum and run off with it and hide, which is quite funny! It's going to be their first Mother's Day so hopefully he'll be nice and let her eat her own sweetcorn.
"(The pigs) love to cuddle in a big mound, but he (Tadeo) does climb on top of all of them... Hopefully he'll let Tess have a lie-in in the morning and hopefully he'll let her have lots of nice and yummy treats, and not try to steal them off her."
The conservation zoo are celebrating parents this Mother’s Day (Sunday 19 March) and inviting visitors to find out more about animal parenting during their visit.
“Lots of animals at Whipsnade have become parents since the last time we celebrated Mother’s Day,” explained Zookeeper Donovan Glyn.
“Reticulated giraffe, Luna, gave birth to Wilf, Asian elephant Donna welcomed Nang Phaya, and short clawed otter Carol now has Pistachio and Peanut to take care of.
"They all have different parenting styles, which our keepers are looking forward to answering questions about on Sunday.”