#Zoos are experiencing a baby boom amid coronavirus lockdowns

A baby baboon born at the Qalqilya Zoo, where workers say a coronavirus lockdown has led to a boom in animal births.
Raneen Sawafta/Reuters

A zoo in the West Bank is experiencing an unprecedented baby boom — from baboons to peacocks.

Fifteen babies were born in the two months that Qalqilya Zoo shut its doors to visitors — three times more than usual, Reuters reported.

“The coronavirus spread at the same time that trips were expected at the zoo. They were canceled and therefore the animals started to give birth,” zoo veterinarian Sami Khader told the outlet.

One ostrich had the proper time to incubate her 11 eggs “because there weren’t people around her, she was able to build a nest”, he said.

The vet is working overtime because one baboon who gave birth wasn’t interested in her baby.

“My father had to bring him to our house,” the vet’s daughter, Hind Khader, said. “I took care of him and gave him milk.”

Last month, Krasnoyarsk’s Royev Ruchey Zoo in Siberia welcomed a bunch of babies, including rare Egyptian goslings, reindeer calves, llama crias and a baby brown weeper capuchin monkey.

“Judging by the baby boom, the lockdown has clearly been good for us because there are a lot of interesting and beautiful baby animals now,” zoo director Andrei Gorban said.