Keepers Put On Black-And-White Striped Coat So Orphan Baby Zebra Doesn't Miss His Mother

Carers who look after animals do whatever they can to make them feel safe. An orphaned baby zebra feels at ‘home’ again thanks to his keepers who wear a black-and-white striped coat and fill in as his 'mother' in shifts.

The orphan Diria had a traumatic past as his mother was killed by a pride of lions at Tsavo East National Park in Kenya.

Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

The youngster escaped the attack by hiding near a herd of goats. The herdsmen took care of it initially but then Diria was brought to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's Voi Reintegration Unit.

Since then the carers have been spending time with the foal by wearing the special coat. In one of their Facebook posts the Trust explained, ‘In the wild, zebra foals imprint on their mother’s striped pattern, so we created identical striped coats that can be worn by the Keepers on zebra duty, so that Diria can imprint as nature intended, without becoming overly attached to any one individual’.

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Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

This is not the first time such a technique has been employed, ‘We have employed this technique with the many orphaned zebras we have successfully raised over the years and it's details like these that help them thrive as babies and eventually reintegrate back into the wild,’ the post read.?

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Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

As long as the carers have the coat on, the zebra will recognise its ‘surrogate’ mother.?It is endearing to see the lengths to which these carers will go to make the baby zebras feel at home and safe.?