LONDON, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Six adorable bush dog puppies have ventured out of their underground burrow for the first time as keepers at England's Chester Zoo celebrate the arrival of its biggest ever litter.
The cute sextuplets have been tucked away since birth at the zoo, thousands of miles from South America where the breed is under threat.
The pups, born to mom Mana (7) and dad Franco (4), made their public debuts after spending their first few weeks of life tucked away in their underground burrows.
Keepers believe the first of the sextuplets arrived on May 13, which is when they first heard tiny cries coming from the dens as they performed their morning rounds.
The litter, which is above the average size for bush dogs and is made up of two boys and four girls, is the largest to be born at the zoo.
Now, the youngsters have popped out to play and have begun exploring the outside world under the watchful eye of their parents.
Tim Rowlands, Curator of Mammals at the zoo, said: "Mana is doing a wonderful job of caring for her new pups but with it being her biggest litter ever, she's certainly got her paws full.
"We've seen fairly big litters of four or five pups born in the past, but never have we had a litter of six. It's an incredibly exciting time for the keepers, as well as our pack of bush dogs which is now 16 strong.
"Once the pups are confident enough to stay out of their den for extended periods of time, they'll each be weighed, sexed and microchipped. This data helps us monitor their progress and coordinate the endangered species breeding program, which is working to boost their numbers in zoos around the world."
In the wild, bush dogs face a huge number of threats, including the destruction of their forest home to make way for farming developments, human-wildlife conflict, poaching for their meat and the introduction of diseases in their habitat from domesticated dogs.
Bush dogs, akso known as vinegar dogs or savannah dogs, belong to the canine family and live in small isolated populations in the wet forests and grasslands of Central and South America. They have evolved over thousands of years to have a web of skin between their toes, which makes them excellent swimmers.
Sightings of bush dogs in the wild are becoming increasingly rare with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listing the species as near threatened with extinction. Their wild number has dropped by more than 25 percent in just 12 years.
