Zoo Knoxville is celebrating the birth of a Hartmann’s Mountain zebra. The foal, born on March 24 to mother Lydia and father Die Toekoms, is the second mountain zebra to be born in Knoxville. The baby is nursing and healthy. The gender is yet to be determined as zoo staff are giving Lydia and the baby time to bond.
Zoo Knoxville is one of only 19 zoos in the country that work with this species as part of a collaboration of zoos accredited by the The Association of Zoos and Aquariums to save them from extinction. Native to Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, wild mountain zebra populations rebounded from “endangered” status to “vulnerable” in 2008. While the population has increased in recent years, they remain threatened by catastrophic drought and face a future population reduction of at least 30% within the next 33 years (three generations) if more severe droughts occur.
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Tina Rolen is director of marketing and communications at Zoo Knoxville.