Gaziantep Zoo welcomes new babies

GAZİANTEP – Anadolu Agency

The Gaziantep Zoo, Turkey’s biggest and Europe’s second biggest, has been welcoming new guests. Home to some 7,000 animals of 350 species, zoo staff have recently been excited about new-born babies. Among the new guests that were born in May are a horse, camel, lemur, gazelle, kangaroo and deer. The zoo officials are expecting to welcome new babies in the coming weeks. 

Celal Özsöyler, a municipality official, said the zoo in the southeastern province of Gaziantep has the highest birth rate among the ones in Europe. 

He said the fertility rate of the animals increased every other day. “The rate is 70-80 percent right now. Babies begin to be born as of the first weeks of May. We will also welcome new babies until the end of June. The new babies are now living with their mother in our safari park and in their own shelter,” he added. 

Özsöyler said kangaroos especially rarely give birth in zoos, but the wallaby gave birth in the zoo and the babies are now growing in their mother’s poach. 

He said the Madagascar lemur in the zoo also gave birth. “One of the reasons why we have the high fertility rate of is that we design shelters according to their own habitat. We take care of them very well. Wild animals do not give birth if they do not feel comfortable in their environment. Our tiger gave birth to quadruplets in previous years,” he added.