Whipsnade welcomes Chocolate the moose
Tuesday 7 June 2011
Whipsnade's caramel-coloured newcomer, Chocolate the moose, keeps close to his protective mother Minnie.
© ZSL
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo welcomed this caramel-coloured newcomer – a moose calf called Chocolate – on its 80th birthday on May 23rd. A bubbly and hungry baby, before too long this leggy moose will grow up to be tall, dark and hopefully handsome. For now the calf is enjoying milk from mother Minnie and nibbling leaves from a nearby willow tree.
The calf is the first moose born at the zoo for many years. Keeper Carole Day said mother Minnie, aged two, is being a super-protective mum and the calf is thriving.
Male moose are famous for their antlers and the calf’s dad Melka has already started growing his new set and even at the tender age of two he has to be strong – the last pair weighed an astounding 5.5kg when they eventually fell off in February!
Visitors can see Chocolate and Minnie at the Wild Wild Whipshade exhibit at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. At Wild Wild Whipsnade, visitors can come face to face with the very animals they could once have bumped into in Britain’s rural woodland. As well as Chocolate the moose, come face to face with lynx, brown bears, wolves, bison, moose and wolverine. Wild Wild Whipsnade takes you back to a time when beasts walked the land, where wolverine peeped out from shady woodlands and moose stalked the forests in days gone by.
