SINGAPORE: A Bornean orangutan baby, two electric blue geckos, a jaguar cub and a king penguin chick. These were among the 540 animal births and hatchlings The Wildlife Reserves Singapore saw last year, the organisation said on Thursday (Jan 11).
The new additions at Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari, River Safari and Singapore Zoo represent 145 species, of which more than a quarter are threatened.
“Yet another year of significant breeding achievements in our parks,” said WRS’ deputy CEO and chief life sciences officer Cheng Wen-Haur, as he praised the dedication and passion of the animal carers.
“Together with our efforts in protecting wildlife in their native habitats, breeding of threatened species in our parks contribute to their continuing survival in the world,” he said.
Bornean orangutans. (Photo: Wildlife Reserves Singapore)
The Singapore Zoo welcomed a critically endangered Bornean orangutan baby called Khansa in April, bringing the park’s successful orangutan births up to 46. Two critically endangered electric blue geckos and an endangered baby female pygmy hippo also joined the zoo family last year.
Adding to the cheer was the zoo’s first male white rhino calf in five years and its first successful jaguar birth since 2009.
A Jaguar cub. (Photo: Wildlife Reserves Singapore)
White rhino calf Orban. (Photo: Wildlife Reserves Singapore)
There were also 14 successful Asian small-clawed otter births across the zoo and the Night Safari last year. The Asian small-clawed otters are the smallest species of their kind in the world.
At the Jurong Bird Park, 2017 saw the addition of a king penguin chick. Maru, meaning round in Japanese, is the first successful king penguin hatching for the park in almost 10 years.
King penguin chick Maru. (Photo: Wildlife Reserves Singapore)
