00:04We've been lucky to have three foals born this month so far. The first was born on the 4th and
00:09then on the 10th and the evening of the 11th. Her name is Uhura and it actually means freedom in
00:15Swahili, which is of course appropriate given that it was the 4th of July and her father's name is Freedom.
00:21The second one was born to Leisha and her name is Kira. It's named after a river in Africa.
00:32Every time that we have a baby born, we need to gather it up and make sure that it all
00:36looks well, make sure that it's strong and healthy, make sure that we know the gender of the baby, give
00:40it some identification so that once it's growing up and joins the herd that we can pick it out and
00:45identify it, separate from its mother and then just give it back to mom and make sure mom picks them
00:49up and all looks well.
00:57I think they're one of the most striking of all the equids. They look kind of like a mix between
01:02a zebra and a mule. Oftentimes people think that it might be a crossbreed, but actually they're perfectly adapted to
01:08their desert environment.
01:09That striping on their legs helps to camouflage them when they're in the low brush. Obviously there's not high trees
01:15in the arid deserts. And those big ears actually help keep them cooler. Most desert animals have very large ears
01:21because it helps to distribute the heat in their body.
01:23These animals are found in northeast Africa, principally in the countries of Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. And because they're critically
01:34endangered, there's very few of them left in that region, somewhere estimated between 150 to 600.
01:42So when they're on the tram and they're passing South Africa on their left, if they look to the right,
01:48they will see that exhibit on the hillside. They'll probably be staring down, looking at them from the tram.
