Breeding success gives park reason to celebrate

New calf Belle is the first musk-ox to have been born in the UK and survived in 21 years.

Highland Wildlife Park has shared delight at its latest conservation achievement – the birth of Belle on May 15, who belongs to the only family of oxen in the country.

Belle's mother, Karin, is 11 years old and arrived at the park in January 2012. Meanwhile her three-year-old father, Myse, arrived in May 2012.

Prior to the birth, the last musk-ox to be born in the UK and survive was at Whipsnade Zoo in 1992. Another was born four years later, however it died the following day.

Musk-ox calves are notoriously difficult to rear in captivity, according to the park, because their immune systems at this age are highly-susceptible to infection.

As Belle grows older, she will form a muscular physique and wooly mammoth-like coat to suit her native home in the arctic. In recent centuries, the species has faced local extinction in both Alaska and Russia, due to excessive hunting for both their meat and fur.

After spending her first few weeks of life off-show with her mother, Belle is now beginning to venture into her outdoor enclosure.

Douglas Richardson, head of living collections at the park, which belongs to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), said: "Our success to date with Belle gives us a good indication that our husbandry and preventative medicine regime are on the right track.

"The last time there were musk-ox in Scotland was when a couple of animals were brought from Greenland to Edinburgh Zoo in the 1920s.

"These animals did not breed so it is very pleasing that the subsequent attempt, a mere 85 years later, has already proven to be successful."

Image courtesy of Highland Wildlife Park