In the nursery of the small animal park of Shanghai Wildlife Park, a baby anteater chases the animal "Daddy" on the outdoor lawn for a hug. It looks special, spit out its tongue and "sells cuteness", attracting many tourists to watch. This is the first case of preterm large anteater cubs artificially bred to live in China, and it was officially met with tourists today.
An animal conservationist told the Liberation Daily Shangguan News reporter that the due date of the baby anteater was the end of June, but in the morning of June 3, they found that the baby of the large anteater had been born, but the mother beast ignored it. "Generally speaking, after the cub is born, the mother will lick the anus and body clothes for the cub, and the cub will also crawl along the tail of the "mother" to its back out of instinctive reaction. But this is because the cub was born prematurely, the physical condition is particularly weak, the coat is even less pitiful, there is no ability to climb on the mother's back, and the mother beast is also powerless to throw the cub aside. ”
In desperation, the nurseryman decided to take the cub out and send it to the small animal paradise nursery for the animal "Daddy" to rescue and take care of. When it first arrived, the male cub weighed less than 1,000 grams, had a low body temperature and had entered a semi-comatose state. The staff raced against the clock to rescue, soaked in warm water to warm it up, dried and dried, the veterinarian conducted a comprehensive examination, timely handled the umbilical cord iodine alcohol disinfection, infusion, injection treatment, and put into the baby incubator.
Although the parenting experience is rich, the staff has never artificially bred a large anteate, let alone a premature baby. 24-hour rotational care is a must, there is no experience in the country to find foreign information in time, combined with their own experience in child-rearing, opened the process of artificial breeding of premature large anteaters babies.
Baby large anteaters have special mouth shapes, and even daily feeding becomes very complicated. The staff used different pacifiers to try, and after more than a dozen trainings, the young beasts mastered the sucking skills and successfully sucked the milk, completing the necessary skill for survival - "can eat". By the time they reach one month of age, they can drink 60 ml of artificial milk in one meal. Today, the cubs are more than three months old and can eat "sauces" broken up from feed such as ants, cat food, eggs, beef, spinach, etc., and their weight has risen to 10 kilograms.
The reporter learned that this big anteater baby will also live in the small animal paradise for a period of time. In the future, the number of artificial milk feedings will be gradually reduced and gradually weaned, and toys similar to the shape of the wild ant nest will be made, which will be placed with their favorite food and carried out rewilding training. When the cubs have fully adapted to the life of adult large anteaters, they will be integrated into the large family of large anteaters.
Native to South America, the Great Anteaters are also known as "South American monsters" and are mainly distributed in central Guatemala and northern Argentina. Among the few existing poor toothed animals, the large anteaters are probably the most eccentric, and the large anteaters have "four monsters": one monster: the long-looking monster, the small eyes, the small ears, the head is like a slender round tube connected to the neck, and the small hole in the front of the round tube is its mouth; the second monster: the long tongue, the large anteater has no teeth, but has a long tongue that is flexible; the third monster: the claw is sharp, and its long claws are curved like a sickle, which can not only be used as a digging tool, but also the best defensive weapon Four monsters: Long tail is more useful. A fluffy and hairy tail of sixty or seventy centimeters long, which can be used as an umbrella on rainy and hot days, and spread on the ground at night to become a fluffy blanket.
In 2009, Shanghai Wildlife Park introduced the big anteaters, this baby big anteater is the second generation of large anteaters bred in Shanghai Wildlife Park. At present, the "Giant Beast Festival" activity of Shanghai Wildlife Park has begun and will continue until December 31 this year.
The National Day holiday is a good time for families to travel, in addition to seeing the "little monsters", the first appearance in the "Giant Beast Festival" is also a small white tiger, a small Northeast tiger, a small lion, a small black-palmed spider monkey, a white-faced monk monkey, an Arabian baboon and many other animal babies who have just appeared in the "Giant Beast Festival". In addition, the largest "giant beast" large population in East China, African elephant herd, Asian elephant herd, rhinoceros family, hippo family, giraffe large population and other large animals became the protagonists of this event.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Chen Xisha Photo Editor: Shao Jing
Source: Author: Qi Yingpu