Cotswold Wildlife Park is celebrating several breeding milestones this year, including the only yellow mongoose and beaded lizard births in the UK.
The park, home to over 1,500 animals from 250 species, has seen 428 births across 53 species. Notably, first-time parents Chip and Nutmeg have produced a litter of two yellow mongoose pups, named Cinnamon and Clove, the first in 13 years at the park.
For the first time in its 54-year history, the park has also successfully bred beaded lizards, with the hatchling being the only one born in any UK zoo this year.
Additionally, a Humboldt penguin chick, born to first-time parents Stephen and Marley, and eight straw-colored fruit bats, among Europe’s rarest bat species, have joined the park’s family.
Newborn Bactrian camel Kaleb, named after Clarkson’s Farm star Kaleb Cooper, is the first male calf from Louis and Cleo. Other notable births include a Potoroo baby, Green Aracari chicks, European Spoonbill chicks, Ring-tailed Lemur twins, Prairie Dog pups, and Kirk’s Dik-dik calves.