The recently born baby aardvark was discovered by excited summer school participants and the keepers have given them the “privilege” of naming it. The “baby”, of which it is still unknown whether it is male or female, will be called Karo and is already on public view in the area that recreates the underground savannah.
The boys and girls who participated in the Africa Expedition, the BIOPARC Valencia summer school, were able to live an exceptional experience that they will certainly not forget. Impressed, they witnessed one of those wonderful moments of nature, when the first to see the baby oricteropo just after being born.
During the morning tour of the park together with the educators, when visiting the termite mound and the cave where the oricteropos live, they noticed that the female, who usually remains sleepy during the day, was very active. This fact made it possible to predict that the expected birth was imminent. With the intention that the little ones could follow up, a second visit was organized and the surprise was enormous because when they arrived the extraordinary event had just taken place. They excitedly looked at the “baby” even with the umbilical cord and were even more moved when they realized that they were the first to see it. The educators quickly notified the caregivers so that the protocol could be implemented to guarantee the well-being of the mother and calf.
It is tradition in zoological institutions that the caregiver who sees a newborn for the first time has the prerogative of naming it. So in this case they have been the boys and girls of Expedition Africa those in charge of choosing it. Since the sex of the calf is still unknown, they thought of a generic name and, furthermore, they decided to compose a word that included a thank you to their instructors. So, using the first syllable of their name, The result has been Karo and in this way the little anteater will be called. Karo is also an unknown tribe from Ethiopia made up of between 1.000 and 1.500 people.
The calf weighed 1,9 kg. at birth and its development is optimal, as it has already reached 4,5 kilos. In this sense, it is already in public view in its outer enclosure located in the area that recreates the underground life of the African. El oricteropus (Orycteropus aferque) It is a very rare species and It is the only living one of its order, the tubulidentata. It is characterized by having a unique dental structure in mammals with teeth without roots, composed of tubular dentin structures that are cemented together forming hexagonal prisms covered again by dentin. They are digitigrade mammals, with four fingers on the front legs and five on the back legs. And its long and cylindrical snout, its ears and its tongue, which is very long and protractile, draw attention to it.
