LONDON, July 4 (Xinhua) -- A tiny trio of babirusa piglets, the world's rarest pigs, have arrived to mom Kendari at Chester Zoo in northern England.
It's the first time ever that babirusa triplets have been born at the zoo, a rare occurrence thought to only happen in around four percent of babirusa births.
The latest set of piglets were born on May 20, but given the sensitive nature of the species, their six-year-old mom had been caring for her youngsters in a special behind-the-scenes breeding area. Now Kendari has proudly shown off her important, playful newborns for the first time in the zoo's babirusa habitat.
Fewer than 5,000 of the Babirusa pigs still remain on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia where their numbers have crashed to fewer than 5,000. A proliferation of hunting for their meat and habitat loss has seen them disappear from many parts of the island.
Tim Rowlands, Chester's Curator of Mammals, said: "Babirusa are one of the of the rarest pig species on the planet. It's an animal that's extremely vulnerable to extinction and under huge pressure for its long term survival.
"We're fighting alongside Indonesian conservationists and the Indonesian government to reverse the decline of the babirusa in its homeland."
Chester Zoo is also one of the world leaders in breeding the charismatic pigs.
"Kendari's new trio of piglets is special additions to the world's population," said Rowlands.
Conservationists from Chester Zoo are working with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and zoos in Indonesia to share husbandry practices and promote the importance of cooperative conservation breeding program to save the species in their homeland.
