Keepers at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s (RZSS) Highland Wildlife Park welcomed a baby Mishmi taken at the end of April.
Recently he received the name Snow after Jon Snow from the popular show Game of Thrones. Keepers at the park are huge Game of Thrones fans having already named last year’s takin calves, Arya and Khaleesi after their favourite female characters from the show.
Head Hoofstock keeper for RZSS Highland Wildlife Park, Morag Stellar said, “. Many of the keepers like to stick to a theme when naming animals, so decided to go with Game of Thrones for the Mishmi takin, as quite a few of us are big fans of the show.”
Mum, Cava has been taking good care of Snow and never lets him venture far away. He is currently incredibly strong and can regularly runs about. Takin calves are following their mums just three days after birth as they need to be able to avoid predators and find food.
“We are really pleased with the birth of Snow. He is doing very well and is really strong. His personality is really starting to show now and he is just an enthusiastic bundle of energy,” added Stellar.
Mishmi takins come from Asia and are believed to have inspired the mythological ‘golden fleece.’ RZSS Highland Wildlife Park has bred 15 takins in the 7 years they have held this species. The park is in charge of the breeding program throughout Europe for this species.
As part of the breeding program they also recently received a male takin from Berlin Zoological Garden.
Photo Credit: RZSS Highland Wildlife Park
