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Rare piglet born at Chester Zoo

An extremely rare piglet has been born at Chester Zoo.

Only 200 Visayan warty pigs are thought to be left in their native habitat in the Philippines - making them the rarest of all wild pigs.

Keepers say the decline of the species - almost to the point of extinction - is blamed on habitat loss and hunting. Credit: Chester Zoo
So far keepers don't know if the newborn is a boy or a girl Credit: Chester Zoo
The piglet peeps out from between the legs of its mum Viv Credit: Chester Zoo

Keeper Lucy Edwards said:

"Visayan warty pigs are critically endangered and face an extremely high risk of becoming extinct in the wild.

"They've suffered a drastic population crash in recent times with widespread commercial logging, illegal logging and agricultural expansion devastating vast amounts of their natural habitat.

They're also being over-hunted and their meat can often command at least double the price of domestic pork in local markets and some restaurants.

"It really is a battle against time to save them.

Chester Zoo was the first in the UK to welcome Visayan warty pigs, a species that gets its name from three pairs of fleshy warts on the boar's face.

The warts protect them from rival pigs' tusks during a fight."

"The sex of the zoo's latest youngster - which was born to mum Viv (8) and dad Sid (7) - is still unknown. It currently sports yellow and brown stripes which act as camouflage but these will eventually disappear at around 9-12 months."

"Given that warty pigs have a spiky, almost mohawk-like hair style on their heads, mum Viv and dad Sid were named after punks - Vivienne Westwood and Sid Vicious."

"Once we discover the gender of our new little addition I'm sure we'll be giving him or her a name to follow in that tradition."