Ten biscuits with mice at ZooParc Overloon after birth wave

At ZooParc, the rusks and mice are in short supply. Ten animals have been born at the Overloon zoo in recent weeks. They are four penguins, three red giant kangaroos and three capybaras.

For the African penguins, four hatchlings hatched. There could be even more. "The penguin has a fixed breeding season at the end of the year, so there is definitely a chance that more eggs will hatch," says head of animal care Steven van den Heuvel.

The African penguins have been staying at ZooParc since 2015. "Back then, they first had to settle down and form pairs. Meanwhile, we have seen an upward trend in the number of births since 2018. That is heartening," continued the head of animal care. After all, the African penguin is seriously endangered. There is therefore a breeding program for this species.

Joey and water hogThe three capybaras were born last week, making them the youngest animals in the park. This largest living rodent species is known as water hog, due to the fact that they spend a lot of time in the water. "Their nostrils, eyes and ears are on top of the head. This allows a capybara to hear, see and smell even while swimming," said Van den Heuvel.

In the pouches of three red giant kangaroos, "joeys" were recently spotted: a young that is now a few months old, but has not yet emerged from the pouch. "Newborn kangaroos are very small. They crawl into the pouch immediately after birth to continue growing there. Only after a few months do they stick their heads out of the pouch and we know they are there. It then takes a while before the young come out of the pouch," Van den Heuvel said.