A pangolin from Taiwan on loan to the Prague Zoo gave birth on Thursday, the zoo announced the same day.
Pangolin Run Hou Tang (潤喉糖) and her male companion, Guo Bao (果寶), were sent to Prague in April last year, and the birth marks the first time a pangolin has been bred in Europe, the zoo said.
“A little cutie was born in the Prague Zoo! It is an extremely rare moment … [that is] thanks to our close partnership with Taipei,” Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib wrote on Facebook.
Photo: Screenshot from the Facebook page of Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib.
The zoo said Run Hou Tang was doing well, but the week following birth is a high-risk period for pangopups.
“We are incredibly happy, but at the same time we do realize that the following days might be critical,” zoo director Miroslav Bobek said. “The female pangolin Run Hou Tang that we got from Taipei Zoo had already raised an offspring, so the chances are relatively high [that the pangopup will survive].”
Zoologist Lo Hsuan-yi (羅諠憶) who led a team at the Taipei Zoo and worked with the Prague Zoo for three years prior to the pangolins being sent last year, yesterday said that the Taipei Zoo helped the Prague Zoo establish a breeding team and maintained close contact throughout the process.
In the wild, ants and termites form the basis of pangolins’ diet, but it is difficult to provide an adequately diverse diet of insects in a breeding environment, she said, adding that the zoo feeds the pangolins a specially formulated animal feed that it is always improving.
“Pangolins are prone to nervousness and the comfort of their environment affects their health. It requires a lot of experience to get it right,” Lo said.
As the natural environment for pangolins is the warmer parts of Asia and Africa, the weather in Europe is not suitable for them, which added to the challenge of breeding them in Prague, she said.
“We have gained a lot of experience working with pangolins over the years at the Taipei Zoo. We are keeping in touch with our counterparts in Prague to provide assistance at any time,” Lo said.
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