Second Zebra foal born at the Zoo

Second Zebra foal born at the Zoo

#Taronga Western Plains Zoo Dubbo

Posted on 18th February 2015 by Media Relations

Taronga Western Plains Zoo is celebrating the birth of a second Zebra foal, in just over a month.


Born in the morning on 3 February 2015, the female Zebra foal has been named Furaha by her keepers, meaning joy in Swahili.


The foal was born to mother, Kijani and father, Bwana, with both mother and foal doing well. 


“This is the third foal for Kijani, who is a very experienced mother and has been showing all the right maternal behaviours towards her foal,” said Keeper, Andrew O’Brien.


“Furaha stays close to her mother’s side at present but over the coming months will start to explore her surrounds more.”


“We are anticipating that Furaha and Marini will be great playmates in the future being so close together in age, and once they both grown up a little we will see them start to interact and play together.” 


This birth brings the total number in the Zebra herd to nine, with both foals currently on exhibit.


“We have had great success with breeding Zebra throughout the Zoo’s history and the addition of a new stallion to the herd is seeing this success continue.” 


“The best time to see the Zebra foals is in the morning when they are most active, they will often have a gallop around the exhibit followed by a rest,” said Andrew.