Rare Piglet Born At Oklahoma Zoo
Gertrude and Helmut, two endangered, wild babiruza pigs have had a son
born at the Oklahoma zoo, the Daily Oklahoman reported.
Zoo spokesman
Scott Darnold made the belated announcement the male was born Feb. 12 to
Gertrude, who is on loan from the St. Louis Zoo.
Helmut was acquired
from the Vienna Zoo in Austria.
In September
2002, Gertrude and Helmut were the parents of twins -- a male and a female
-- who also reside at the zoo.
Native to islands
in Indonesia, the babirusa is a relatively large swine, reaching up to
3 1/2 feet in length and weighing up to 200 pounds.
Bill Savage,
a zoo mammal curator, said this is the first babirusa birth in captivity
this year.
"This increase
in population is especially significant due to the fact that only six births
have occurred in the past four years in an aging North American babirusa
population," Savage said.
Babirusa are
so rare, only 15 zoos in North America exhibit them, he said.
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