Celebrate Mother’s Day with New Animal Moms at Walt Disney World

Happy Mother’s Day! Today, the animal moms across Walt Disney World Resort are giving us an extra reason to smile — baby animals! Over the last few months, the animal care team around the resort has welcomed a few new babies, including an adorable new piglet! For our Mother’s Gift to you, we’re detailing some of the new little ones around WDW.

Baby Piglet!

Located at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, mom Daisy, a red river hog, delivered a healthy baby boy piglet last month. The piglet, who is still unnamed as of this writing, joins seven other members of his hog family, or sounder, and is enjoying his backstage bonding time with Daisy, learning the way of things. 

But like the raising of any child, it takes a village, and Daisy isn’t doing it alone! In fact, all the family members are pitching in and helping the new piglet learn how to navigate the world around him, including how to forage and wallow (take a mud bath!), key skills needed to thrive in his environment. Wallowing gives the red river hogs a coat of mud on their fur that protects them from the sun and insects, an important part of keeping them safe and healthy! 

Of course, Daisy and her sounder also have the help of the skilled animal care experts at the resort, who have been keeping an eye on Daisy and her piglet and providing the best veterinary care throughout her four-month pregnancy and beyond. The veterinary team was able to perform ultrasounds and monitor the piglet’s health to make sure he was developing well. 

Guests will soon be able to visit Daisy and her new piglet on Pembe Savanna at Animal Kingdom Lodge. They should look to the mud to find them! 

Other New Babies

Happily, Daisy is only one of the new animal moms who can be found around Walt Disney World. Over the past few months, Disney has welcomed two new Shetland pony foals at the Tri-Circle-D Ranch at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, Sprout and Finn! 

Sprout was fittingly born on Earth Day (April 22) and thus was given a name that suits his birthday. Finn, the other new pony foal, was born in March. These two new ponies join a herd of almost 90 others who entertain and delight guests at the Tri-Circle-D Ranch.  

The Animal Kingdom theme park also welcomed a new baby recently. The animal care team there got to meet Hazelnut, the newest member of the aardvark family that lives at the park. Hazelnut is the second baby aardvark to be born at Animal Kingdom, and she and her mom Peanut have also been bonding backstage but will make their debut to guests soon. Hazelnut was spunky and digging within an hour of her birth, so it seems she’s healthy and happy! 

All of these births are a great new addition to the animal family that calls Walt Disney World home. The animal care team is doing a wonderful job of making sure these moms and babies are healthy and able to navigate their environments successfully, and we can’t wait to see who else will be added to the resort soon! 

Happy Mother’s Day!

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