The Budapest Zoo welcomed a rare baby Bactrian camel last week on April 9. The young male, named Ilias, made his first public appearance yesterday, having spent the last week bonding with his mother, an eight-year-old, named Iris.
According to the zookeepers, Iris had a little trouble caring for her newborn at first as this was her first baby and she seemed a little confused about what to do. I know a lot of new moms (and dads) out there can relate to that one!
“When he was born there were problems, the baby was looking for milk from the mother, but as this was her first baby she had no experience,” Zoltan Hanga, a spokesperson for Budapest Zoo told AFP.
“Us zookeepers had to hold down the mother and gently help the baby to feed.”
Most wild Bactrian camels today are in fact domesticated.
A small group of around 800 to 900 live in the Gobi desert in Mongolia and China, but according to experts, are close to extinction.
Budapest Zoo was opened in 1866, and is one of the world’s oldest zoos.
Agencies/Canadajournal