3 New Creatures Have Joined Illinois Zoo in Hopes of Making Babie

Niabi Zoo has announced three new animals have joined the Illinois zoo's family. First, a rare female Amur leopard joined the zoo so she can mate with the facility’s male leopard.

On the same day, the zoo received an African crescent porcupine from the San Diego Zoo and a female colobus monkey from the Santana Zoo, also in California. The new animals join Kito, a male two-year-old southern white rhino who came to the zoo this spring.

During a Rock Island County Forest Preserve Commission meeting Tuesday night, Niabi Zoo Director Lee Jackson told commissioners the female Amur leopard arrived June 2 from Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens in Thrigby, England. It is currently in quarantine for another two weeks. She will be slowly introduced to the male before she goes on public display in four to six weeks.

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According to the QC Times, the Amur leopard is listed as critically endangered by the World Wildlife Federation, with fewer than 100 left in the world. The big cats are native to southeast Russia and northern China.

The QC Times also reports there are plans in the works to bring a female white rhino in the next spring as part of a Species Survival Plan program the zoo is involved in for the purpose of mating.

It's hoped the female porcupine will be successful mating with the zoo's current male porcupine. That's the plan for the female colobus monkey too. Mating with the male colobus, I mean.

I feel like all these animals need to get randy while Barry White plays in the background. Hopefully there will be plenty of babies soon then too.

There are plans to add more critters too. The QC Times reports Niabi Zoo is currently in the process of applying for an Illinois State Museum grant in the amount of $400,000 to build a new prairie dog exhibit.

Time to take the family to the zoo! Get more zoo details here.

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Going in chronological order from 1956 to 2020, we present the best-selling album from the year you graduated high school.

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