New zebra foal debuts at Lion Country Safari

North America’s largest herd of zebras grew its membership by one foal overnight at the Lion Country Safari, park officials announced Saturday.

The male, born weighing an estimated 45 to 50 pounds, brings the number of zebras at the Loxahatchee park to 61, said Ashleigh Kandrac, animal curator at the park.

The 17-year-old mother became pregnant naturally and park personnel had started watching her more closely over the past few months as her shape became rounder and rounder, Kandrac said.

“We don’t really have births that often — it’s kind of a unique thing,” Kandrac said, noting that the last zebra birth was a year ago. “They are (procreating) slow and steady.”

Typically, zebras are pregnant for a year before they give birth, Kandrac said. When this zebra would give birth was uncertain, as the mother was not being closely monitored in her pregnancy. The baby will not be weighed unless problems develop, she said.

Zebras give birth at night, when it’s safer, she said. And the mothers are very protective of their young.

“The mother has to protect her own foal to stay with her,” Kandrac said. “There will be females trying to take over that baby.”

If male zebras want to be papas, generally they will have to fight for dominance, to be the herd stallion, Kandrac said. The jostling for dominance usually starts when the male zebra is 2 said.

“There’s one stallion that holds the herd together, but that’s not to say that someone doesn’t sometimes sneak one in,” Kandrac said.

If this foal was typical, Saturday’s newborn was on its feet within minutes. Not wanting to upset the mother, his sex was determined when one of the keepers saw the herd’s newest member urinating, Kandrac said. The foal will be noticeably smaller than the rest of the herd for only a few weeks, she added.

“They grow up quite quickly,” Kandrac said.

Zebras’ average lifespan is a bit more than 30 years; the males grow to weigh 650 pounds in adulthood. years old, Kandrac

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