Taipei Zoo

Tai-An, the first generation baby piglet produced under the “Formosan Wild Boar Breeding Program”, in cooperation between the Taipei Zoo and the National Taiwan University, was born on February 12.

It has become increasingly difficult to spot purebred Formosan wild boars roaming around Taiwan in recent years, hence this special breeding program, where individual animal’s “genetic resource” is first confirmed via “gene-sequencing” by National Taiwan University before reproduction is carried out. And Tai-An, the first pure strain, a male piglet bred from the 1 male and 2 females original to the Taipei Zoo under this scheme, was the first generation of offspring born under this program.

Wild boars typically give birth to 3~6 piglets per litter on average. It was uncommon that piggy mom “Mei Mei” only produced 1 piglet, a rarity on its own, so the keeper named the newborn Tai-An (meaning health and safety in Chinese), in hope that he will grow up to be healthy and strong, and makes his contribution to the reproduction of Formosan Wild Boars.