There was cause for celebration at Folly Farm, Begelly, this week, with the arrival of a very special baby. The pair of ostriches at the farm attraction's zoo had been sitting on eight enormous eggs for the past six weeks. Finally, just one of them hatched. The tiny baby was named 'Ajia', an African name meaning 'quick' or 'fast', as the ostrich is the fastest-running bird in the world. "We are delighted with the new baby," said head keeper Tim Morphew. "It turns out there was only one fertilised egg in the whole clutch, so we're very lucky that it hatched and survived. Ostriches are notoriously difficult to breed as they have a tendency to abandon their offspring once born. However, the parents are extremely protective of Ajia. You'd have to be a very brave person to get between these parents and their baby!" Ajia, whose sex will remain a mystery until the adult plumage arrives at the age of two, is particularly special, being the first ostrich to hatch at Folly Farm and be raised naturally in the paddock by parents Oscar and Patch. The only other chicks, twins who hatched last summer, had to be hand-reared by Folly Farm's staff as their parents did not seem to realise their parental duties. Remarkably, Folly Farm has seen quite a 'baby boom' this year, with more baby animals being born than ever before! These have so far included prairie dogs, raccoons, reindeer, wallabies, ring- tailed lemurs, llama and Patagonian mara, as well as an abundance of the familiar farmyard babies - goat kids, lambs, calves and piglets. Even the Folly Farm pet centre has seen a rush of births, with baby lovebirds, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, chinchillas and chipmunks! Ajia the baby ostrich, Oscar and Patch can be seen in the zoo's paddock, and the rest of the baby animals can also be seen by visitors around Folly Farm.
