Lechwe tagging video.

The other day we had a Lechwe calf born at the zoo. Just like agricultural animals, all zoo animals need to identifiable, especially from a distance. One method of identifier is a brightly coloured ear tag. Like wearing earrings, this does not hurt the animal. It is a very quick and painless procedure and also gives us an opportunity to give the calf a health check during the process. 

In the video you will see that the calf makes no attempt to avoid capture. This is because they have an in build sense to lay very low and not move so as not to draw attention to itself in the hope that any potential predator will not spot it and move on. They are often left for many hours by the parent lying in undergrowth hidden from predators. If they were out in the open following their mother they would be extremely vulnerable. It is not until they are around 10 days old when they will start to stay with the herd in the open.

The tagging procedure itself is relatively simple. It consists of a two sided soft disc with a unique number on it that can be read from a distance. It has a pin on one piece and a catch hole on the other designed to click shut when the two come together and will not fall out. The tag looks quite large on the calf but as it grows older it will be less out of proportion for the animal. The ear itself has three main veins running the full length of it. Being careful to avoid the veins you then squeeze the applicator together quickly and firmly so as to push the pin through the skin and into the opposite connector, clamping it tightly together. As the animal is so young it does not feel this. We place two tags, one in each ear, as a back up in case, during it's life, the animal loses one.

Once tagging is complete we sex it and give it a quick check over to see it is OK and then release it. During this process you will hear the calf calling for it's mum. For the safety of the staff the parent is shut outside the pen. The whole process lasts around three minutes and the calf is released immediately afterwards where he joined his mum. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAYspAbq23Q 

Thank you for watching.