Disney World Celebrates Mother's Day Early With Adorable Piglet Birth at Animal Kingdom

Daisy the red river hog gave birth to a healthy male piglet in April at Disney World's Animal Kingdom

wild hog piglet birth at disney world
Photo: Courtesy Walt Disney World Resort

Mother's Day is already in full swing at Disney World's Animal Kingdom.

Daisy the red river hog has been celebrating since she gave birth to her new piglet in April. Daisy and her baby boy both reside at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge.

The new family isn't ready to make their public park debut yet, but the mother and son are bonding well behind the scenes at Animal Kingdom. When Daisy and her piglet are ready, they will join the six other red river hogs at the park. A family of red river hogs like this is known as a sounder, according to Walt Disney World Resorts.

Like many of the animal moms residing at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida, Daisy is responsible for teaching her young the skills they need to survive. The hog mom will have assistance with this task. Red river hogs all help out when it comes to raising piglets. Daisy's son, who has not yet been named, will learn how to forage and wallow from his entire family.

wild hog piglet
Courtesy Walt Disney World Resort

Daisy knows the entire animal care team at Animal Kingdom is there to support her motherhood journey. The Disney World park allows animal moms choice in the health care they receive. Daisy willfully entered a customized crate to receive ultrasounds and treatment throughout her pregnancy.

Disney World Resorts predicts Daisy and her new baby will spend Mother's Day indulging in mud baths. Wallowing in the mud is a natural behavior of the red river hog that protects the animals from the sun and insects.

wild hog piglet birth at disney world
Courtesy Walt Disney World Resort

Different sectors of Disney came together this year to help other moms in need. For years, the lesser flamingos of Disney's Animal Kingdom would build nests and lay eggs with no success. Between 2002-2022 the birds only produced one chick.

In search of a solution, the animal care team at the Disney World park examined the materials surrounding each flamingo group's habitat. Flamingos build their nests on the ground, often making a perch out of mud and dirt for their eggs to protect them from predators and water damage.

The experts eventually landed on baseball clay as a possible solution and explored the idea with the Sportscape team at ESPN WideWorld of Sports. The Sportscape team masters the clay formulas needed to support softball, Little League, and Major League Baseball fields.

wild hog piglet birth disney world
Courtesy Walt Disney World Resort

The Sportscape and animal care teams introduced the fast-drying baseball clay used at the ESPN Wide World of Sports to the lesser flamingos' habitat at the Animal Kingdom park for the 2022 breeding season. The results were almost immediate.

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"After we introduced the new clay during last year's breeding season, the flamingos began building bigger and better nests than we had ever seen," Jamie, an animal manager with Disney's Animals, Science, and Environment, said.

Since being introduced to the baseball clay, the flamingos have already welcomed one healthy chick.

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