At the end of September 2017 Colchester Zoo were extremely excited to announce the arrival of the first baby Tamandua to be born in Colchester Zoo’s history to our pair Oreo and Ruth.
The young Tamandua has been confirmed as female and her keepers have recently named it Orinoco! Orinoco has already grown a significant amount and can now be seen exploring her home, learning to feed herself and climb!
Before Orinoco’s arrival keepers had seen mating behaviour from Ruth and Oreo but the exact due date of this bundle of joy was unknown so it was a pleasant surprise for keepers when they first spotted the baby on the morning of the 26th September.
See our young tamandua when she was first born in the video below:
Tamanduas are arboreal anteaters and spend a lot of time in the trees. They have strong claws and a long, powerful, prehensile tail, which enables them to hold onto things. Their coat is fawn to dark brown in colour and is very short and sparse on the nose and tail.
See if you can spot our three tamanduas in their enclosure at Worlds Apart.
You can also find out more about adopting this amazing species here