Four baby camels at Whipsnade

Photocall… Photocall… Photocall…

Date: Tuesday 1 May 2001

Time: 10.30am

Place: Whipsnade Wild Animal Park, Bedfordshire (MEET AT THE MAIN GATE)

Contact: Julianne Mallatratt/Claire Bidder, Whipsnade Wild Animal Park
Tel: 01582 871316

WHIPSNADE GETS THE HUMP - EIGHT TIMES OVER!

Whipsnade Wild Animal Park has four baby Bactrian camels. All will be exploring their enclosure for the first time on Tuesday 1st May at 10.30am.

The youngsters, whom are yet to be named, are all female and were born within two weeks of each other on the 8, 11 and 22 April. Their proud mums, April, Biter, Clarissa and Sherry will be watching on with dad, Henry, as the youngsters take their first steps out in to the sunshine.

"The young camels have been kept in their indoor enclosure until now, to ensure they are healthy and strong" commented their keeper. "As the weather is turning milder they will soon be allowed to venture into their outside paddock".

Notes to Editors

• Bactrian camels are found in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and part of the Taklimakan Desert in China.

• They have an average lifespan of 50 years and live in herds of one male with 10 – 20 females.

• The Bactrian camel has a gestation period of approximately 13 months, females will generally leave the herd just before giving birth and will stay with the youngster for two weeks before rejoining the herd.

• The humps of the Bactrian camel store fat; when food is scarce the hump shrinks and sags, as the fat is used up.
• The camels can survive for extended periods without drinking as long as they obtain sufficient moisture from the food that they eat.
• Bactrian camels are critically endangered in the wild.

For an intimate look behind the scenes of Whipsnade Wild Animal Park check out the new series of Whipsnade which will start at 7.30pm on Tuesday 1 May on Anglia.