Taipei Zoo pangolin in Prague pregnant with Europe's first pup
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Loading... - Qian Huang
- 18 Oct 2022
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Run Hou Tang (潤喉糖), a pangolin flown from Taipei Zoo to the Prague Zoological Garden earlier this year, is pregnant with what may become the first pup of its kind to be born in Europe.
Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib, who had enthusiastically welcomed Run Hou Tang (“cough drop” in Chinese), and her mate Guo Bao (果寶, “precious fruit”) after it was announced they would be sent to his city, celebrated the news on social media. Run Hou Tang and Guo Bao are on loan in Prague after the Czech capital became sister cities with its Taiwan counterpart in 2020.
“I am very pleased that the intercity diplomacy between Prague and Taipei can bear such rare fruit as a small, lively ‘pinecone,’” he wrote on Twitter. Hrib had referred to pangolins as “moving pinecones” to Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) in 2019 when Ko visited Prague.
In a press release, the Prague Zoological Garden wrote that after the required one-month quarantine ended for the newly arrived pair, the two animals quickly familiarized and to the zoo’s surprise, began mating. While Run Hou Tang had not conceived when she received her first examination, “there was no room for doubt” that she was pregnant on the second examination.
The Prague Zoological Garden cited breeder David Vala as saying his team trained Run Hou Tang to be examined. Zookeepers would place a plate of food on top of a horizontal bar just tall enough for a pangolin to reach on its hind legs; as it feeds, it exposes its belly and allows for ultrasounds and blood to be drawn.
“I don’t want to get ahead of events, but the fact that our pangolin is pregnant is a great achievement in itself,” Prague Zoological Garden Director Miroslav Bobek said regarding the news. “If all goes well, Run Hou Tang will give birth some time between mid-December and mid-January — and the Prague zoo will welcome the first ever pangolin pup born in Europe.” Read More…
