The First Babies of the Year Have Arrived

Taxi dad in the black-tufted marmoset family

At ZOO Ljubljana, mother marmoset lives with her family — a male and a female and their five offspring of various ages. In early February the family grew by two members.
 
A pair of marmosets stays together for life. When the young grow up, they leave the core family, find a partner and start their own lives. Before that, together with the father, they help the mother care for newborn sisters and brothers and thereby gain experience for their own parenthood.

The male and the older offspring take turns carrying the newborns on their backs. They do not forget the female — they protect her, warn her of predators and bring her food. This allows her to eat enough, save energy and produce more milk for the newborns, giving them a greater chance of survival in the wild. In this way, marmosets are unique among all monkeys. By sharing care of the young and grooming each other, they strengthen family bonds. After two months the young independently accompany the group and learn what food in the environment is edible and how to drill through tree bark to reach the tasty sap, which along with insects is their main food.

Wild boar mother cares for her young alone

At the end of February, the wild boar mother also gave birth. Unlike the marmoset mother, she cares for her young alone. She announced their arrival with nesting behaviour. She carried a large pile of straw into the wooden shelter and built herself a nest, in which she gave birth to 4 piglets. Each chose a teat and began to suckle nourishing milk. After a few hours the piglets were already on their feet, but in the first days they did not leave the nest. There they stay safe with their mother and, like most newborns, sleep a lot.
 
Today, a month old, they follow the female, run around the enclosure, explore their home and are already tasting the food their mother eats. The female is extremely caring, gentle despite her size and, of course, a protective mother. Thanks to their striped coats, the piglets are almost invisible on the forest floor; this pattern, together with their mother, protects them from predators in the wild.  

Bactrian camel nurseries

The Bactrian camel herd — consisting of male Karlo, female Salima and her offspring Hasan and Gobi — has grown by a new member, long-legged Zaya. In the language of the people living in Mongolia, where Bactrian camels are also found in the wild, her name means "fate" or "luck". During the coronavirus epidemic, we chose the name carefully, as we as a society strive to overcome the virus, spread mutual help and positive stories.

Camels are fairly quiet animals. However, when a baby is born, the female calls out often and loudly, the baby answers, and so they also recognise each other by voice. All the females in the herd give birth in special areas away from the males. There they form a kind of ‘nursery’, where they together protect the young from predators and take turns grazing peacefully, so they have enough milk for their offspring.