Meet Kilkenny's new baby ostrich

It's like a tennis ball made of feathers.

Say hello to the new baby ostrich chick who's hatched against the odds in Kilkenny.

The as-yet unnamed chick is the first successful hatching from a pair of ostriches who have lived in the park for eight years.

"Ostriches are notoriously difficult to breed successfully, particularly in a country such as Ireland where the climate is somewhat less temperate than their native sub-Saharan Africa," the park said.

"The ostriches have laid fertile eggs before but unfortunately none of the eggs hatched despite the mother’s best efforts, so this time Gareth placed six eggs in an incubator and to his delight he has hatched a healthy and active chick."

That's Gareth, incubator extraordinaire.

The park is looking for name suggestions over on their Facebook page. Baby ostriches seem to be all the rage these days after a live video stream of an ostrich hatching went viral last week. The cam is still running now that the chick's safely hatched.

Nore Valley is a caravan park and open farm which has been running since 1989. It's seven miles south of Kilkenny off the M9 if you'd like to visit. You can find out more at the park's website.