NEED TO KNOW
- The Little Rock Zoo in Arkansas just welcomed three bush dog pups
- The litter features two males, Train and Bernardo, and a female named Beatriz
- Bush dogs are small canids native to Central and South America, and — despite their name — are more closely related to maned wolves than domestic dogs
A zoo in Arkansas just got a little bigger!
The Little Rock Zoo announced the birth of three bush dog pups in a Facebook post shared on Aug. 5. The zoo said the newborns are “doing well and growing fast” and are “under the watchful eye of their devoted parents and our animal care team.”
The zoo also said that temporary “puppy fences” have been installed in their enclosure to prevent the pups from wandering too close to a moat within the area.
In a blog post shared on Aug. 7, the zoo announced that the litter features two males, Train and Bernardo, and a female named Beatriz.
The pups’ parents are relatively recent arrivals at the Little Rock Zoo themselves. The zoo announced the arrival of the pair several months back in an April blog post, sharing that they hail from France.
“Bush dogs are not commonly found in U.S. zoos — only four or five institutions house them nationwide, including Little Rock. When the zoo’s last bush dog passed in September 2024, the team immediately began working with partners in Europe to identify potential animals to help re-establish a breeding pair,” the zoo explained in the blog post.
The zoo ultimately found two 12-month-old bush dogs — Paku, a male from a zoo in Sables d’Olonne, and Luz, a female from the Parc Zoologique de Paris.
They then began the long process of getting the animals to their zoo in Arkansas, which involved “months of paperwork, health certifications, permits and international coordination.”
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Luz and Paku finally arrived at the zoo in March, where they were ultimately introduced.
The introduction “went better than we could have hoped,” the zoo said at the time in its post. “Luz, the braver of the two, led the way, with Paku closely following her around as they explored their new environment.”
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Bush dogs are small canids native to Central and South America, per the zoo’s blog. And despite their name, they are more closely related to maned wolves than domestic dogs.
Bush dogs live in close-knit packs and are known for their cooperative hunting skills, which enable them to take down significantly larger prey. They are also strong swimmers and have partially webbed feet, allowing them to navigate flooded forests and rivers.
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