Bulletin From the Barn: September 3, 2010
Giant Anteater Update From Keeper Marie Magnuson
Good news! Maripi is pregnant! For the past few weeks we have been examining Maripi using ultrasound, and a little more than a week ago we saw evidence of a pregnancy. This is her third pregnancy. Maripi has been given ultrasounds during all of them but it is always exciting when we learn the good news.
As you probably remember, Maripi and Dante bred way back in April. They have bred at least two or three times since then. This does not mean that the first breeding did not “take.”
Giant anteaters will breed even if the female is pregnant already, which is rather unusual in the animal world. We don’t know why this is exactly but perhaps it has something to do with how anteaters live and love in the wild. To compare them with tigers, a male tiger holds a territory that overlaps the territories of two or three females. He defends this area against other male tigers, is the only one to breed with the females in his territory, and knows that any cubs born to “his” females are his cubs. Giant anteaters do not have territories. They roam freely across the landscape. Lions not only hold territories but form a pride, which is a stable social group. Since they live together, the females breed only with the males in the pride. Anteaters live solitary lives and are basically ships that pass in the night as far as breeding is concerned.
There are many other ways that animals determine who will breed with whom. But, if like the giant anteaters, life is a pretty haphazard affair it may make sense to try and make the most of any and all opportunities. If Dante were in the wild he might try his luck with any female he encountered and since he runs into Maripi on a pretty regular basis it isn’t really so surprising that they have bred more than once.
So whatever the reason for the multiple breedings and no matter which breeding was the one that did the trick, Maripi is positively pregnant. Gestation is about six months, so the earliest she would give birth is early October.
And speaking of lions and breeding, don’t miss the 
lion cub cam!
