Houston Zoo Celebrates Mother's Day Bongo-Duiker Baby Boom

Houston Zoo celebrated International Mother’s Day weekend with an antelope baby boom welcoming the birth of a baby bongo and duiker. Marvin, an eastern bongo, was born to mum Lily and dad Bobby. Eastern bongos are a very rare antelope from central Africa and are considered an endangered species with an estimated 200 left in the wild. Marvin is brave in exploring new things like getting on the scale to be weighed. He wasn’t the only arrival, however. As another was Cadbury, a male yellow-backed duiker, who was born to mum Pumpkin and dad Darryl. Duiker means diver, when disturbed duikers plunge or dive into thick cover to hide. Cadbury is very calm and often walks over to his keepers out of curiosity and for attention. Yellow-backed duikers are an endangered species from west and central Africa and are the largest species of duiker. Bongo Lily and yellow-backed duiker Pumpkin are both experienced mothers and are doing well caring for their calves. Zoos like Houston play an important role in the survival of these species in their native Africa by funding wildlife-saving efforts around the world.