Disney’s Animal Kingdom Welcomes A Baby Aardvark
Bring on the baby animals! If you haven’t watched Episode 5 of our new favorite show – The Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom on Disney+ and want to keep that element of surprise, step a away from this article. However, if like us you can’t think of a better way to start the weekend then with a new baby animal sighting – we’ve got you covered!
The new episode aptly titled Aardvark Love follows the story of the love between Peanut and Willie! After a few dates, the pair decided to get cozy and the rest is aardvark history resulting in a very special arrival!
Welcome to the world baby Karanga! This female baby aardvark was born earlier this month at Rafiki’s Planet Watch at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. She is the first baby aardvark born into her family and her name means “Peanut” in Swahili so she is just like her mom!
Find out more about Swahili by heading right over to Disney+ to check out episode 5. As with all of the other awesome show in the season, the animal care tem shares center stage with the animals. The team at Animal Kingdom played a role in pairing them together as part of the Species Survival Plan (SSP) which is designed to help ensure future generations of animals in danger of becoming extinct.
A lot of thought and careful preparation went into Willie and Peanut’s blind date. In fact, seasoned animal care team members Missy, Elizabeth and Jennifer – who have a collective 60+ years of animal care expertise – used their know-how to create a special pre-date spa day for Peanut. Here’s a closer look at their “girl time” together:
The team was excited and a little nervous when the pair first met. With Peanut fresh and ready to dig in the dirt, would Willie want to join her? Would there be a spark?
Fortunately, yes … it was love at first snout, which led to future dates and… well, nature took over.
Speaking of nature, aardvarks are a great example of diversity in the animal world and how a species adapts to its environment. These animals, from Sub-Saharan Africa, are perfectly equipped for rooting and burrowing in sand and dirt. You can see, Karanga has a long snout and tongue, just like mom and dad, that, as an insectivore, will eventually help her sniff out and devour up to 50,000 insects in one night.
Dr. Beth has spent decades providing care for all kinds of mammals here and around the world – in fact, she just celebrated her 25th anniversary in veterinary medicine. Aardvarks hold a special place in her heart and she is very pleased with what she sees in the baby’s health and development so far. Within a few hours after her birth, Karanga had already started digging around in the dirt. This innate skill is important because it’s how aardvarks not only find food, but also how they build the burrows they live in to keep cool.
Check out @drmarkatdisney on Instagram and @DisneyASE on Facebook for more behind-the-scenes content from our animal keepers and fun facts about the 5,000+ animals who call Walt Disney World Resort home. And take the fun with you when you download this week’s activity page.
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