First baby camel in eight years is born at Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire

  • Watch baby camel Sally enjoying her surroundings at Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire.

The UK's biggest zoo has welcomed the birth of a camel calf for the first time in eight years.

The fluffy baby Bactarian camel named Sally was born to 12-year-old mother Izzy and four-year-old father Oakley at Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire on 11 April.

Whipsnade's camel keeper George Spooner said: “Despite their reputation for being grumpy, camels are actually very patient, nurturing parents and it’s been great for us to see first-time mum Izzy attentively caring for her newborn daughter." 

The youngster was walking, albeit a bit wobbly, within hours of being of born.

Sally, a baby camel, has been born at Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire - the first to be born there in. eight years. Credit: ZSL WHIPSNADE

Mr Spooner said: “Sally has very long, gangly legs which she’s still getting to grips with."

Visitors to the attraction spotted the three-week old getting to know her surroundings and bonding with her parents at her paddock.

Whipsnade Zoo’s domestic Bactrian camels act as an ambassador species for their critically endangered "cousins" the wild camel (Camelus ferus) in Mongolia and China.

“There are only 950 wild camels left in the deserts of Mongolia and China today, due to hunting, water scarcity and predation by the grey wolf,” Mr Spooner said. 

Sally a baby Bactrian camel was the first to be born at Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire for eight years. Credit: Whipsnade ZSL

ZSL, the conservation charity behind Whipsnade Zoo, is working to protect Mongolia’s wildlife, including wild camels in the Gobi Desert where it is thought there are less than 450 remaining.

Mr Spooner, said: “ZSL is closely involved in the wild camel project, working with conservation partners to contribute towards to scientific evidence which will inform a management plan for these critically endangered animals,” Mr Spooner said.

Baby Sally and the herd of camels can be found along the Passage Through Asia, at Whipsnade Zoo.

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