Two Triplet Births for the Threatened Chacoan Peccaries

Tierpark Berlin is delighted with its two triplet births for the threatened Chacoan peccaries. The light-grey coloured, in contrast to the dark-grey adult animals, and hand-sized pups were born on 15 April and 1 May 2015.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: The Chaco peccary, also called Taguá, certainly doesn't have the easiest job in winning hearts compared to other animals on show. They need their own special kind of conservation as a result. As the largest of the three peccary species, the Chaco peccary lives in the hot Chaco forest in the border regions of Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina. The species-rich habitat of the Chaco pastures is rapidly diminishing due to ever-increasing cattle breeding and the resulting steady transformation of the land. This means that the number of animals living freely in the wild is only estimated to be at 2,000 - 3,000. The San Diego Zoological Society and other North American zoos established the 'Proyecto Taguá' protection and breeding station in Fortin Toledo in Paraguay to help preserve the animals in 1985. One hundred Chaco peccaries live there now. The first animals bred as part of the "Proyecto Taguá" programme traveled to the USA in 1996 in order to establish a breeding programme there. The first offspring from the USA arrived in Europe in 2012 – to the Tierpark Berlin, where the first European cultivation succeeded in 2013.

There is now a total of 21 Chaco peccaries living in Tierpark Berlin. This corresponds to around 1% of the estimated wild population in Paraguay. For the first time last year, Tierpark Berlin handed over pups to the zoos in Jihlava (CZ) and Breslau (P) so that new breeding groups could be established there. All the animals remain the property of the Republic of Paraguay and are passed on as breeding loans. The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) commissioned the Tierpark Berlin in April to establish a European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for this endangered species in order to build up and manage a demographically and genetically healthy population over the long term.

"This example shows how zoological gardens implement species conservation these days through a network of conservation breeding programmes with concrete protection projects in the wild. And this is why we are all the more thrilled with our six Chaco peccary births", said the authorizing curator Christian Kern.

Since 2013, Tierpark Berlin has also been providing financial support to maintain the "Proyecto Taguá" breeding station in Paraguay. We are the first European zoo to support the project in this way, since finance was only previously provided by US zoos. The financial support from the Tierpark has enabled the new construction and extension of enclosures, the purchase of more food and medicine as well as the undertaking of research and conservation projects for the threatened Chaco peccaries.

You can visit the Chaco peccaries from now on at Tierpark Berlin during our regular opening times from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.. Photos can be used for editorial purposes with the copyright mark of "Tierpark Berlin/Klaus Rudloff".