Proud Parents – Anna and Ben

A while back I shared with you that the Grevy’s Zebra Anna who’s living out at Reid Park Zoo was about to have a baby. That’s important because Grevy’s are endangered. Well, Anna finally gave birth – on Christmas Day! Welcome into the world our new little girl – Anna and Ben’s foal –

She looks like a bit of a klutz – and she is. But she’s doing a whole lot better in her first days on the planet navigating 4 legs than any of us did trying to figure out just two of them. That’s mom by her side.

When my bride, little girl and I visited Kenya we saw these critters all over the place. Now there are fewer than 2,000 of them remaining in all of Africa. The work Reid Park Zoo and the Tucson Zoological Society does in animal conservation is critically important to the survival of multiple species. This little lady is just the most recent example.

I’m not intentionally omitting her name. The zoo folks will be holding a naming contest in early January. You can follow that through the zoo website at https://reidparkzoo.org/

And stay tuned to that link for more of the zoo baby boom. Their giraffe Penelope is expected to deliver any day now. They’ve been waiting for this one for quite a while – the gestation period for a giraffe is about 15 months. Think of that all you moms. I have a very cool video from our trip to Kenya of two giraffes fighting. They hit each other with their long necks. It looks graceful, but I suppose having a 10’ long muscular whip slams up against you wouldn’t be a great feeling. Right now, giraffes are also experiencing a slow extinction. As is true of the Grevy’s Zebra, they’ve seen their numbers decline by about 40% since 2000. Cheer for Penny to have a healthy baby.