Cuteness overload: Baby boom at Fota Wildlife Park

Three Scimitar-horned oryx calves and two European bison calves have been born within weeks of each other.

There is a serious baby boom on at Fota Wildlife Park right now and it is causing cuteness overload.

Since the beginning of the month Fota has become home to five new calves.

Two female European bison and three Scimitar-horned oryx (two females and one male) were born within two weeks of each other.

Both of these species were previously extinct in the wild so these new-borns are very important to the conservation work that Fota does.

Thanks to cooperative breeding and re-introduction programmes, bison and Oryx herds now roam free in parts of Europe and North Africa.

Aidan Rafferty, Lead Ranger said:

As a conservation charity it’s very important to see the successful breeding programmes continuing here, especially when these species were extinct in the wild.

The descendants of animals who were re-located from Fota Wildlife Park have become part of the mission to create viable and self-sustaining free ranging bison and Oryx herds.”

Joffrey, is father to the three Oryx calves. He arrived at Fota in December 2016 from Marwell Zoo as part of a breeding programme.

Hyssop, who joined the herd at Fota four years ago from Port Lympne Wildlife Reserve in the UK is father to the two new female bison calves.