The National Zoo and Aquarium has welcomed a zebra foal this week, but 72 hours on, zookeepers still don’t know the newcomer’s gender. 

Zookeeper Olivia Ware says they will have to wait until mum zebra Kiva gets a little less overprotective to get close enough to confirm the gender. 

“It was born Tuesday night and we found it Wednesday morning,” says Olivia.

“It’s doing really well, definitely a bit cheeky. 

“Normally the foals try and stay really close to mum, and mum is really protective, but this foal is more than happy to come and annoy his big brothers, which is funny to watch.”

The zoo has seen 27 zebra foals be born, but most get sent to other facilities. There are nine currently housed at the zoo.

Olivia says plain zebras are doing quite well in the wild, but captive breeding programs are important for building “insurance populations”.

“If we can bring those animal numbers up in captivity, we then have that insurance population, if something happens in the wild the eventual goal is to release those animals back into their natural habitats,” she says.

Veterinarian Joanne Johnson says zebras in the wild face many of the same challenges as other animals, the big ones being habitat loss and hunting.

“Zoos and aquariums have a really important role in conservation in terms of maintaining species and genetic diversity and health so we can support those programs out in the wild as well,” says Joanne.