For the first time in its 90-year history, the Chester Zoo in the United Kingdom has revealed the birth of an aardvark. The new aardvark calf is a baby girl, as per the zoo.
The baby was born overnight on January 4. She snuggled up with its mother Oni (8) and father Koos (6), says the zoo.
The calf’s name is Dobby, a figure from the popular ‘Harry Potter’ series of fantasy novels and films.
Baby aardvark was born with large droopy ears, hairless wrinkled skin, and giant claws, according to the zoo’s website.
Experts are hand-rearing the calf every evening, and zookeepers are providing focused care. To help the baby grow stronger, they are feeding it every few hours during the night for almost five weeks.
The baby got the name Dobby by Chester Zoo keepers because of his likeness to the much-loved Harry Potter figure.
First aardvark: Momentous Landmark
Aardvarks are found in Sub-Saharan Africa. They are threats of habitat loss there due to agricultural development, according to the zoo.
They are also in dispute with nearby farmers as a result of the circumstance, and there are rumors that they are prey for their meat.
“This is the very first aardvark to be born at the zoo and so it’s a momentous landmark for us and a real cause for celebration. We’re overjoyed,” said Dave White, Team Manager – Twilight.
“As soon as we spotted the new baby next to mum we noticed its uncanny resemblance to the Harry Potter character, Dobby, and so that’s the calf’s nickname for the time being!” White added.
There are just 66 aardvarks in European zoos and only 109 in the rest of the world.
According to the website, the Afrikaans word aardvark translates to “earth pig”. The nocturnal animals utilize their long noses and excellent sense of smell to sniff out ants and termites, which they consume with a large tongue that can reach 25cm in length and sticky saliva also covers it.