High Park Zoo welcomed an adorable new Highland calf to its zoo last month. After an active naming contest, the park unveiled the cute calf’s official new name: Molly McMoo!
“Many thanks for the more than 550 people who responded. It was a close race, with Molly McMoo getting 43 per cent of votes,” Friends of High Park Zoo said in a statement, adding that “Poppy” came in second place and “Winnie” in third.
“They are all great names, but we think Molly McMoo is perfect”.
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Molly was the first baby born at the zoo this season! Her parents, Heather and Fergus, are two long-time residents at the park. According to Friends of High Park Zoo, mating occurs throughout the year for West Highland cattle, with a gestation period of approximately 277–290 days (so up to 9.5 months). Most commonly a single calf is born, but twins can sometimes occur! This is also a long-lived breed (their lifespan can last more than 20 years).
According to the city, Highland cattle are an old breed of domestic beef cattle developed in the Highlands of Scotland. They’re known for their double coat of hair (a downy undercoat and a long outer coat), with a long fringe of hair shielding their eyes from snow, rain, and eye infections spread by insects. Because of their double coat, they don’t put on a thick layer of fat to keep warm like many other animals, so they’re pretty lean.
If you plan to visit High Park this month, perhaps to see the cherry blossoms, make a beeline for the animal display to visit little Molly and the other animals! You’ll see all types of cute animals, including barbary sheep, bison, capybaras, emus, llamas, yaks and even reindeer.