Top News

Britain's only baby aardvark born in the last 12 months has arrived at the UK's best zoo. The tiny youngster was born at Chester Zoo, where zookeepers are now helping raise the calf by bottle-feeding it warm milk throughout the night.

Pictures released by the zoo show the baby aardvark, called Womble, being carefully fed using a syringe. Keepers stepped in after mum Oni was not producing enough milk to properly support the newborn. The arrival is a particularly special one for the zoo because Womble is the only aardvark born in the UK in the last year.

It is also only the second aardvark ever born at Chester Zoo in its 94-year history.

The first arrived back in 2022, when conservationists at the zoo celebrated the birth of another calf named Dobby.

Just like Womble, Dobby was born with wrinkled pink skin, giant claws and huge floppy ears. The zookeepers said that the youngster was named after the Harry Potter character because of its distinctive appearance.

At the time, Chester Zoo said there were only 66 aardvarks living in zoos across Europe and just 109 in zoos worldwide.

Aardvarks are one of the world's strangest-looking mammals and are native to sub-Saharan Africa.

Their name comes from the Afrikaans language and means "earth pig". They have long pig-like snouts, thick tails, massive ears and powerful claws designed for digging through hard ground and termite mounds.

Aardvarks mainly eat ants and termites and use long sticky tongues to scoop up insects by the thousands.

They are also known for creating huge underground burrows, which later become homes for many other African animals, including jackals, warthogs, owls and reptiles.

Scientists consider them an important "keystone species" because so many other animals rely on the burrows they leave behind.

Despite living across much of sub-Saharan Africa, nobody knows exactly how many aardvarks exist in the wild.

Researchers say they are extremely difficult to count because they are nocturnal, live alone and spend most daylight hours hidden underground.

The species is currently listed as "Least Concern" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, meaning it is not considered endangered.

Womble's birth has also brought fresh attention to Chester Zoo itself, which is regularly ranked as the best zoo in the UK.

The Cheshire attraction spans 130 acres and is home to more than 30,000 animals across over 500 species.

The zoo is run as a conservation charity and supports more than 130 international breeding programmes around the world.

It is also famous for its huge natural-style habitats, including the recently opened Heart of Africa zone, which is described as the largest single zoo habitat ever created in the UK.