Angasii experiencing his first trip into the African Savannah

The calf, named Angasii, was born on July 30 and is getting bigger and stronger by the day. The Herbivore Keepers have characterised the young calf as being nice-natured and appropriately cautious.

Angasii has already been integrated into the herd with his mum and will be visible to visitors if they’re up near the African Savannah. The calf has already shown a lot of independence and is quite confident while mum is around. While Angasii will still rely on his mum for milk, he has already started to investigate the browse in the Savannah and is actively joining in when the rest of the herd are feeding.

Angasii with his mum

The current Nyala herd at the Zoo arrived from a facility in South Africa last September to form the core for the Australasian breeding programme for the species. The Zoo manages this programme for the entire Australasian region and we are working with other Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA) animal welfare accredited zoos to ensure the Nyala will be able to contribute to the breeding programme.

While Nyala aren’t endangered, antelope species around the world are declining. Nyala will help play an important advocacy role for other endangered antelope species, so that people can learn more about these beautiful animals and raise awareness for the threats they face in the wild.

Good zoos work collaboratively to make breeding programmes like this successful, and we’ve been working with other zoos in the region for a number of years to make this breeding programme happen.

Angasii is the first Nyala calf to be born this spring

While we haven’t been able to confirm yet if our other female Nyala are pregnant, we are hopeful that we will see a few more calves (males) and lambs (females) join the herd this spring.