Source: Morning News Author: Yu Wenyan
Today, the first case of a preterm large anteater baby born artificially in China meets tourists at the Shanghai Wildlife Park. This large anteater was once in danger due to premature birth and weakness, but after being rescued by the wildlife park, it was raised by artificial feeding, and it is now nearly 4 months old.
This morning, the sun was shining, and the keepers took the baby anteater to bask in the sun on the outdoor lawn, because of the special appearance, tourists who saw this baby animal could not help but exclaim.
According to the breeder, the original due date of the mother of the big anteater was the end of June, but in the morning of June 3, they found that the big ant-eater baby had been born, and the mother ignored it, "Generally speaking, after the cub is born, the mother will lick the anus and the tire coat for the cub, and the cub will also climb to its back along the tail of the 'mother' out of instinct." But this little guy was particularly weak due to premature birth, and he was unable to climb on his mother's back, and the mother beast also discarded the cub. So we decided to take the cubs out and send them to the baby garden of the small animal park for the animal father to rescue and take care of. ”
According to the nursery staff of the wildlife park small animal park, the baby large anteaters weigh less than 1000 grams when they are sent, while the normal baby large anteaters have a birth weight of about 1200-1300 grams. In addition, the body temperature is low, and it has entered a semi-coma, "we began to race against the clock to rescue, soaked in warm water to warm it up, then wiped dry and blown dry, the veterinarian conducted a comprehensive examination, disinfected the umbilical cord with iodine wine, infusion, injection treatment, and put it in the baby incubator." ”
The nurses said that although they had artificially fed many animals, they had never artificially bred large anteaters, let alone a premature baby, and they did not know whether they could feed them.
Since there is no domestic experience to learn from, the nursery staff will look for foreign information, combined with their own experience in child-rearing, and begin to artificially raise premature large anteaters babies. Due to the peculiar shape of the mouth of the large anteater, the nursery staff tried to feed it with different nipples, and after more than ten times of training a day, the baby finally mastered the sucking skills, and successfully sucked the milk, completing the necessary skills for survival.
From the first few drops of milk to a few milliliters and then to 10 milliliters, the nursery nurse takes good care of the baby and feeds it 6 times a day. At 1 month old, the baby anteaters can drink 60 ml of artificial milk at a time, and the nursery staff is happy to celebrate the lunch at noon.
Today, the baby anteater is almost 4 months old, has begun to eat ants, cat food, eggs, beef, spinach and other feed broken paste, weighing 10 kilograms, followed by slow weaning, training its own predatory skills.
Native to South America, the Great Anteaters are probably the most eccentric of the few poor-toothed animals, with the "Four Monsters". "One monster" looks strange, small eyes, small ears, the head is like a slender round tube connected to the neck, the small hole in the front of the round tube is its mouth; the "two monsters" have a long tongue, the big anteater has no teeth, but has a long tongue that is flexible and free; the "three monsters" have sharp claws, and the long claws are bent like a sickle, which can not only be used as a digging tool, but also the best defensive weapon; the "four monsters" have a long tail, a fluffy and hairy tail of sixty or seventy centimeters long, which can be used as an umbrella on rainy and hot days, and become a fluffy blanket on the ground at night.
In 2009, Shanghai Wildlife Park introduced the big anteaters, which are the second generation of large anteaters bred in the wildlife park.
At present, the Shanghai Wildlife Park is holding the "Giant Beast Festival", in addition to seeing the baby anteater, visitors can also meet many animal babies such as small white tigers, small Siberian tigers, small lions, small black-palmed spider monkeys, white-faced monk monkeys, Arabian baboons and many other animal babies who have just reached the full moon. At the same time, the largest "giant beast" population in East China - African elephant herd, Asian elephant herd, rhinoceros family, hippo family, giraffe large population and other large animals are also looking forward to the arrival of tourists.
Image source: Chen Zheng