Baby boom continues at Monarto Safari Park

Exciting news from across the Mallee plains – Monarto Safari Park has welcomed its first Przewalski’s Horse foal since 2017!

The foal joins five critically-endangered Addax calves and five Eland calves born over the last month.

Assistant curator Jon Allon said with over 70 per cent of the species at the park threated in the wild, it was fantastic to see the animals flourishing.

“Our ungulate keepers have been kept busy! Over the last three months we’ve welcomed little ones to our giraffe, Plains Zebra, Eland, Addax, Nyala and now our Przewalski’s Horse herd,” he said.

“Any birth at the park is a blessing, but with many of these species classified as endangered or critically endangered, it is amazing to see numbers increasing and the herds thriving.

“To put this into perspective, it is estimated there are only around 30 to 90 Addax left in the wild. With the addition or our new arrivals, we now have 22 animals at Monarto Safari Park, with 15 of those in our breeding herd.”

Keepers have been hand-raising one of the five little Addax calves, whose mum unfortunately rejected her. She has been trained to come to the fence when a bell rings for her bottle three times a day.

In addition to the Addax, Jon said it was particularly exciting to welcome a Przewalski’s Horse foal this month as it’s the first born at the park since 2017.

“The male foal was born to Tinka and Bataai, and we’re hoping he will soon have a play mate with a few other horses looking pregnant,” he said.

“The species is endangered in the wild so it is incredibly important to have an insurance population here and for the herd to act as ambassadors to educate visitors about their plight in the wild.”

Native to Mongolia, the Przewalski’s Horse is the world’s only remaining wild horse with the species once classified as extinct in the wild.

Since 1986, Monarto Safari Park has bred more than 50 foals and together with Taronga Western Plains Zoo, seven horses were successfully reintroduced to Takhi Tal Nature Reserve in Mongolia in 1995.

This led to the species forming functional breeding herds in their native habitat and as a result the species’ status was reclassified as endangered.

Critically endangered, Addax are now only found in isolated pockets of the Sahara Desert. Known for their long thin spiral horns, the antelope species has faced threats from poaching and habitat loss.

For more information or to book your tickets to visit the new additions at Monarto Safari Park, please visit monartosafari.com.au.