Baby capybara born months after parents had romantic Valentine’s meal

A cute baby capybara has been born – months after its parents had a Valentine’s meal.

Keepers at Drusillas Park in East Sussex announced they are celebrating after the romantic time they arranged for the pair resulted in the arrival of a beautiful baby girl.

Born on 22nd June, the youngster is the first at the zoo in 11 years.

Head Keeper, Gemma Romanis, commented: “We were over the moon to discover the new baby a couple of weeks ago, not only because it’s our first capybara pup in over a decade, but because everyone has been rooting for Clementine and Augustus – and our efforts to help them find love really worked.”

Mum Clementine had rejected many potential suitors over the years, and keepers had almost given up hope of finding her a mate.

However, young male Augustus was introduced and staff carried out very slow and careful introductions over the months that followed.

To boost the romance earlier this year, keepers arranged a romantic meal for the pair for Valentine’s Day - complete with white linen table setting, flowers, cloche, and heart decorations, in the hopes of soon hearing the pitter patter of tiny hooves.

Gemma Romanis explained: “Clementine has been with us for a long time, and is very affectionate and loving with us, but in contrast, had been very dismissive towards other capybaras we’ve tried to introduce over the years.

“When we saw a glimmer of hope in her behaviour towards Augustus, we did everything we could to encourage it.

“In a lovely turn of events, the dates between the romantic meal to the arrival of the new baby, against the gestation period for capybaras, suggest that maybe our Valentine’s meal was even more of a success than we thought!”

The new family of three are now described as inseparable, barely parting more than a few steps from each other.

Keepers have observed the unnamed baby girl is “healthy, lively, and already very confident”, showing she feels safe and secure under her parents’ careful watch.

“First-time parents Clementine and Augustus have taken completely naturally to their new duties,” add the Park.