Female zebra foal becomes Mysuru zoo’s newest resident

Mysuru, Oct 24 : A female zebra foal, born to mother Prachi and father Rishi, has become the newest inmate of the Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, said a zoo official on Saturday.
“Mother and the foal are healthy and doing well. The parents are proud of the foal, which was born on October 16. The sprawling zoo houses four female zebras and three male zebras,” the zoo Director said in a statement here.
“After a year-long gestation period, mares give birth during night. The labour lasts for 8-10 minutes and the foal can run around by an hour,” an official said.
The foal is protected from other herd members by its mother and the herd’s dominant stallion.
A zoo official added that the over a century old Mysuru zoo has a long date with the zebras with the first pair brought to it in 1990 from Germany’s Hamburg.
“After their death, the zoo acquired male zebra Raja from Lucknow, which died due to infections in 2010. In 2014, two pairs of zebras were brought in from Ramat Gan National Park, Israel. However, one pair died in December 2015 due to acute colic and the other pair — Riddhi and Sudhir — were the first one to become parents in 2016 in Zoo environment,” the official explained.