Hope in uncertain times

Hope has arrived Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, during the COVID19 outbreak.

5-year-old zebra, Polly has given birth to a new stripy baby. Born on 19th March, amid the current fears, the new girl brought smiles to the faces of visitors on the zoo’s last day of opening before the Coronavirus closure.

The Keepers decided on the name Hope, to signify to all our visitors and staff, that in these unprecedented times, there is still hope that things will return to normal and life will keep on going.

She will live in the zebra enclosure and joins her father, Zebedee, the rest of the dazzle, including another young zebra called Sprout, who was born in December 2019.

Senior keeper, Emma Ogborne said, "The news around the world has been dominated by the Coronavirus and when Hope arrived safely into the world, she brought so much happiness to the whole zoo team. That's when we knew we had to call her Hope ".

New-born foals are born with their stripes, although they are brown and white. The stripes will turn to black as the young zebra gets older.

Grant’s Zebra, a subspecies of Plain’s Zebras, are registered as Near Threatened on the IUCN red list.