West Indian manatee born in Arnhem

A West Indian manatee was born Zoo on Thursday 30 December at 09:18. There are only nine European zoos with manatees, housing a total of 39 animals—24 bulls, 14 cows, and Arnhem's new addition.

Look at the birth of the young manatee here

Calves are more than welcome

As there are only 39 of these extraordinary mammals in Europe, calves are more than welcome as part of the European West Indian manatee population management programme. Bulls are clearly in the majority, so would be excellent news if the calf turned out to be a female. With the calf's birth, there are now three manatees living in the Mangrove.

Expensive boarders
Manatees are very demanding in terms of their environment and are expensive boarders. Together, the two adult manatees eat around 60–70 kg of food per day. Endive is their main food source—the large mammals eat around 18–22 kg of endive per adult per day. They also eat pak choi, celery, Chinese cabbage and alfalfa every day, along with a varied supply of spinach, broccoli, chicory, lettuce, Swiss chard and kale. The adult bull was born at ZooParc de Beauval in France and is almost 20 years old, while the adult cow was born at Odense Zoo in Denmark and is almost 8.5 years old.

Deadly boat propellers and fishing nets
West Indian manatees are mammals, so they regularly need to surface to breathe. Manatees in the wild are often fatally injured by motorboat propellers when they lift their heads above the water to breathe. When a manatee gets stuck in a fishing net, it dies from suffocation. Fortunately, countries around the world are increasingly listing manatees as a protected species. The IUCN Red List classifies the animals as 'vulnerable'.