KHON KAEN: Khon Kaen Zoo in Khao Suan Kwang district of this northeastern province has got two new members -- a white lion and a red-shanked douc -- which have drawn a large number of visitors during the weekend.
Thanachen Khensing, the zoo director, said the white lion is a newly-born male cub from a father named Kimhan and mother called Pee Mai. The couple mated in October last year. The cub weighed about 1.5 kilogrammes at birth and is in good health.
Mr Thanachen said white lions are animals protected for breeding by large-scaled zoos worldwide. The Zoological Park Organisation of Thailand has put white lions on display at Chiang Mai Zoo, Khao Khieo Open Zoo, Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo and Ubon Ratchathani Zoo as well as Khon Kaen Zoo.
The director said the new red-shanked douc at Khon Kaen Zoo is female, born from a father called Aum and mother named Nam Fon, both five years old and brought east from Dusit Zoo in Bangkok. The baby is still being held tightly by its mother for breastfeeding.
Red-shanked doucs -- sometimes called "costumed apes" -- actually sport five different colours, and are the most colourful of all primates. They range from 53-63 centimetres long from the nose to the tip of the tail. The animal has been put on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Red-shanked doucs are found in the border area between Laos and Vietnam, he said.
A white lion cub at Khon Kaen Zoo.
(Video YouTube/Green Viet)