A new conservation success at the North Carolina Zoo has produced six Visayan warty piglets, with the zoo calling them the first U.S.-born litter of the critically endangered species since 2022.
The zoo is also asking guests and online followers to help choose names for four of the newborn animals.
Here's what to know
The public vote covers four of the six piglets while zoo staff will select names for the other two, according to The News & Observer.
The zoo says about 36 Visayan warty pigs live in zoos nationwide. In the wild, Visayan warty pigs remain on only two islands in the Philippines.
Zoo Director and CEO Dr. Mark Penning explained the decision to involve the public in naming the piglets.
"We have a total of six piglets in need of names," Penning said in the zoo's release. "Two piglets will be named by Zoo staff, and the remaining four will be named by our loyal guests and online followers. This incredible conservation success story belongs to all of us, so we are inviting each of you to get involved with selection of the winning names."
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More background
The four piglets included in the naming vote were born to 8-year-old Buddy and 7-year-old Makaio, and that group includes one male and three females.
Makaio also fathered two additional piglets with Shy, a second-time mother. According to the zoo, the births brought the sounder, or herd, to nine pigs total on exhibit.
Deputy Director Diane Villa said the newborns reflect more than a single breeding success.
"These warty piglets are symbolic of a much larger wildlife conservation effort, representing dozens of critically endangered species we are actively working to save in the wild," she said in the release.
Their arrival comes as the zoo prepares to open its 12.5-acre Asia exhibit on March 1, 2027.
The News & Observer reported the project will mark the zoo's first major expansion since 1994 and is expected to add 6,000 plants and 50 species, including Malayan tigers, white-cheeked gibbons, Chinese alligators, Komodo dragons, king cobras, and Asian small-clawed otters.
What can be done?
Anyone who wants to participate can vote through the zoo's SurveyMonkey survey, and, according to the zoo, voting opened Oct. 23 and closes at 5 p.m. Oct. 30.
The zoo plans to announce the winning names on Nov. 2 on its social media accounts.
One set of options is inspired by root vegetables important in Filipino cooking, including Ube, a purple yam; Taro; Gabi, the Tagalog word for taro; and Cassava.
Other themed lists draw from plants native to the Philippines — Dao, Buri, Pako, and Salisi — or Tagalog words: Pogi for "handsome," Munti for "little one," Baboy for "pig," and Listo for "clever."
"By choosing to visit our Zoo, guests are supporting wildlife conservation efforts led by our team members locally and around the world," Villa concluded in the release.
Where can I learn more?
Here is more on endangered-species births, wildlife rescues, and zoo conservation work in Indiana, Manitoba, Kansas, and South Africa.
• At an Indiana zoo, a breeding effort sparked births of eight U.S. orangutans.
• In Manitoba, a polar bear cub was flown to a zoo after its mother's death.
• At a Kansas zoo, 83 ornate box turtles arrived after a global trafficking probe.
• In South Africa, a rhino orphaned by poachers has a calf of her own.
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