A Siberian zoo that closed its doors to visitors for over two months due to the novel coronavirus says the lockdown has encouraged a baby boom among its animals.
Siberian zoo's animal baby boom during lockdown
Siberian zoo gets a baby boom after it closed its doors to visitors Location: Krasnoyarsk, Russia (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) DIRECTOR OF KRASNOYARSK ZOO, ANDREI GORBAN, SAYING: "Judging by the baby boom, the situation has clearly been good because there are a lot of interesting and beautiful baby animals, including rare ones such as the Egyptian goose, which had offspring for the first time in a long time.
The others like reindeer, capuchin monkeys, have a standard mating season.
They are at a decent reproductive age and surprise us every year with their offspring." The absence of visitors has encouraged mating in some animals but others have become confused which has prompted changes in behavior (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) DIRECTOR OF KRASNOYARSK ZOO, ANDREI GORBAN, SAYING: "Many of the animals are anxious because they don't understand what's going on.
They probably thought 'Where's everyone?
What happens if the last visitors go?
Then we're in real trouble.'
So, there is some sort of constant anxiousness, you can feel it, many of them are behaving strangely.
The camels are following everyone in a neat line, looking them in the eyes as if to ask what's going on."