The Olomouc Zoo is rejoicing at the birth of a young Cape sparrowhawk. However, the pavilion is now closed to the public

On Friday, April 12, the female Cape grebe gave birth to her next cub at the Olomouc Zoo. In order to minimize the risks during its rearing and the necessary feeding, the zoo has now closed the pavilion to the public, but believes that visitors will be all the more happy if the rearing is successful and they will be able to see the rooks with their own eyes in about three weeks.

Raising a young grebe is very demanding from a breeder’s point of view. It is necessary to adhere to the fact that an adult rook in nature sleeps in a deep burrow during the day, at the same time we must respect the rook mother, who does not always sleep during the day and is not always willing to nurse her young. “During the first period of life, the cub needs a temperature of around thirty-three degrees Celsius in the room, which we are not able to achieve in the sparrow’s burrow. in a heated crate and is fed to the mother several times a day under the supervision of the nurse. However, the nurse must also milk the milk for the time when the mother is active and does not stop this function, i.e. very early in the morning and at the end of the night and thus provokes his emptying, the caretaker must then treat the skin of the little wrasse and weigh him once a day so that we know if he is doing well,” zoologist Eliška Veselá describes the whole process.

A small rake really requires a lot of care and constant attention until its weight grows from the initial 1550 grams to five kilos. Then there is no longer any risk of catching a cold or laying eggs and he can be with his mother continuously. The Olomouc Zoo has been breeding voles since 2017. The first cub was born on March 26, 2020, so far two cubs have been raised.

The grebe is one of the very rare bred species. It is kept by approximately twenty-five European zoos, while only seven gardens keep it. When you manage to raise a baby, it’s a small miracle. The mother can reject it, the cub may not be viable, it does not suckle from the mother, there can be several reasons for the failure. In the Czech Republic, we can meet rakes in Prague, Pilsen, Dvora Králové and Olomouc.

A trick of nature

A stocky, almost bald mammal, whose body is covered with sparse bristles and whose limbs are tipped with long claws, with a kangaroo tail, an elongated pig’s snout, hare ears, it looks as if the draftsman won and mixed several animals together. He can fold his ears along his head and does so mainly while sleeping. The testicles of males are stored in the abdominal cavity, so it is difficult to determine the sex. Therefore, DNA analysis is necessary for it.

We can meet this mammal in Africa, south of the Sahara. An adult weighs approx. 60 kg, lives for approx. 20 years. Its biorhythm is reversed compared to the human one. The loggerhead sleeps during the day and activates at dusk when it runs around the landscape looking for termites. Using its strong claws, it digs up the termite nest and seizes the termites themselves with a sticky tongue up to 30 cm long and processes them with flat teeth that do not have roots and are still growing. This food is difficult to replace in human care, just like in anthills. His menu at the zoo includes a finely blended porridge of cooked meat, pellets, egg yolks, carrots, bananas, rice and the mealworm’s favourite.