Maryland Zoo welcomes new baby animals

BALTIMORE — Over the past few weeks, the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore has witnessed a flurry of new life. The Zoo recently announced the birth of two trumpeter swans, a sitatunga calf, a blue duiker, and a litter of prairie dogs. All the newborns were born on Maryland Zoo property.

The two trumpeter swans, called cygnets, were born in the Zoo’s Farmyard. Their parents, Scuttle and Buttercup, incubated their eggs for 30 days before they hatched on May 24. Their parents “have played a very important role in the conservation of their species,” said Jen Kottyan, Curator of Birds at Maryland Zoo. As part of its conservation efforts, the Zoo plans to send the baby swans to the state’s Department of Natural Resources, which will release them in Oregon. To give them the best odds at survival in the wild, the parents will raise the hatchlings until they are big enough to survive on their own.

The Zoo also welcomed the most recent addition to its sitatunga herd, which is a species of antelope native to Central Africa. On May 23, mother Ally and father Beau, became parents to Mae, the 12th member of their herd. The newest sitatunga is the adult male Beau’s third calf. The sitatunga species is not currently threatened or endangered, due in part to conservation efforts coordinated by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)—such as the Sitatunga Species Survival Plan (SSP).

The Zoo also announced in a tweet the birth of blue duiker, Indigo. Blue duiker is a species of antelope, native to southern and eastern African forests. They said in the tweet that the blue duiker was born, but they have not released any information about Indigo.

Finally, on May 19, the Zoo began to see the heads of newborn prairie dogs popping out from their underground dens. Prairie dogs burrow a complex series of tunnels underground and give birth beneath the soil. While underground, the parents of the most recent litter took care of their blind and hairless prairie pups. Once the pups popped out of their tunnels, all the adult prairie dogs started to take care of the newborns together. Prairie dogs have not been endangered since the 1970s, due to conservation efforts.

Visitors at the Maryland Zoo can see all these newborns in their respective habitats, including the lake in the Zoo’s Farmyard, the Sitatunga habitat, the Blue Duiker habitat, and the Prairie Dog Town habitat.