Auckland Zoo working to 'bring the zoo to you' during coronavirus lockdown
Thursday, 26 March 2020
Auckland Zoo is closed as the country goes into coronavirus lockdown, but that isn't stopping it from making sure everyone at home gets their daily dose of cuteness.
On Tuesday, the zoo closed its doors for an unknown amount of time.
It will not reopen until experts advise it is safe to reopen.
But in a statement, Auckland Zoo said although no one could go to it, the 'passionate and dedicated' staff are still working hard to ensure the animals receive the same high level of care.
**READ MORE:
* Auckland Zoo welcomes first South African porcupettes to be bred on site
* First ever baby emperor tamarin monkey born at Auckland Zoo
* Red panda cub and zebra foal born at Auckland Zoo over Christmas**
And staff were working to 'bring the zoo to you'.
It's believed this will include livestreams of zoo animals.
On Thursday, the zoo posted a photo of a bunch of wifi-enabled cameras to Twitter.
'Staff whose role does not extend to caring for the animals and our facilities are also hard at work, busy developing new and exciting initiatives so that we can continue to share our love for wildlife and wild places and bring the zoo to you, from the safety of your homes,' Auckland Zoo said in the statement.
'Thanks to today's amazing technology – whereever you are – we can still bring you a great zoo experience and we can all still come together to build a future for wildlife – for the benefit of all – animals, people and our precious environment.'
A number of animals have been born at the zoo over the past few months.
A second panda cub was born to Khela, who gave birth to male cub Tashi in 2018, just before Christmas 2019.
The zoo's second Christmas arrival, a zebra foal, was born on Boxing Day.
The first South African porcupettes to be bred at Auckland Zoo were born on January 18 to first-time porcupine parents Alika and Bruce.
Weighing about 300 grams at birth, they were just 3 per cent of the size of an adult porcupine.
Just this month, the zoo celebrated the arrival of the first ever baby emperor tamarin to be born there.
'This is a pretty special occasion,' the zoo said in a post to social media.
'Although their white whiskeys may look small at the moment, these will grow in time to match their parents.'
Auckland Zoo said people should keep a look out for the latest news, content, activities and conservation education programmes on its social media and websites to see what it is doing over the lockdown period.