Overview
- Chester Zoo staff say Dotty, a Kirk's dik-dik fawn, has begun venturing outside for her first short explorations.
- Keepers initially kept the shy newborn in a quiet den, with brief visits from her mother for nursing and checks.
- Dotty’s biological father died shortly before her birth, and the zoo introduced Dan as a surrogate caregiver under a Europe-wide breeding effort.
- The fawn weighed only a few hundred grams at birth and is expected to stand about 40 centimeters tall when grown.
- Kirk’s dik-diks are among the world’s smallest antelopes, native to parts of Kenya, Tanzania, and Namibia, known for a sharp alarm call, flexible noses for browsing, and scent glands used to mark territory.