Zoo earns its conservation stripes as zebra foal is born

NEWBORN foal Florence does not have a care in the world as she explores her environment at Edinburgh Zoo.

But this little zebra has an important role to play in ensuring the survival of her species.

The plight of the Grevy's zebra – the largest zebra breed in the world – is so precarious that experts fear disease could wipe them out in the wild.

There are only between 1500 and 2000 surviving in their native Africa, their numbers devastated by hunters and predators.

Keepers at the zoo were delighted by the rare birth of a female zebra to boost their breeding programme.

Florence is now being introduced to visitors after being born at the end of July. She and her mother, Emily, are both said to be doing very well, alongside her father, Frank, and two-year-old brother, Alan.

Kathleen Standen, head of hoofstock at Edinburgh Zoo said: "Florence is proving to be really popular with our visitors and can be seen spending lots of time playing in her African Plains enclosure."

Unlike a helpless human baby, Florence is already running round her enclosure at the age of just one month. She began grazing on grass after only a week, but will need her mother's milk for the first six months. Her brown stripes will turn black when she is about a year old.

Ms Standen said the European breeding programme, which is essential to helping ensure the future of the species, suffers a shortage of females.

She said: "Grevy's zebras are the fastest declining African mammal in the last 30 years – 90 per cent of their range has gone and 70 per cent of their population. In 2006 they faced an anthrax outbreak as well as serious drought. If it had not been for the mass vaccination program and supplementary feeding, the effects could have devastated the population in Kenya. With so many pressures it could be easy for a disease to wipe out the wild population. This is why it is very important to a have a captive population held in different locations. There are over 500 Grevy's zebras in the European breeding programme.

"This is an essential back-up population."

The Facts
Grevy's zebras spend about 60 per cent of their day eating. They feed mainly on grasses, but will also eat bark, fruit and leaves.

• Pregnancies last around 13 months, with a young foal able to walk one hour after birth.

• The Grevy's zebra is one of only three surviving species in the zebra family.

• They are socially unusual in that they do not form large herds like common zebras. Instead, they form very loose herds made up of related females.