1st Ever Birth Of African Spotted Genet At The Memphis Zoo

Press release from the Memphis Zoo:

August 5, 2021

On one hot summer day at the Memphis Zoo, our family of two genets (adult male, JoJo and adult female, Jennet) grew into a family of three. Jennet’s story begins within our research department. They have closely monitored her hormones to determine when she would give birth, which gave our animal care staff ample opportunity to prepare for her arrival. Due to this preparation, the animal care staff was prepared to step in during the birth, and it’s a good thing they were! Jennet began having difficulties during labor and the animal care team was able to intervene and save both mom and baby.

The baby female genet was born c section in critical condition and had to be hand-raised by her keepers and veterinary staff. Her keepers have named her Josie and she is the first African Spotted Genet to be born at the Memphis Zoo. Josie has just opened her eyes and she is growing well.

It will be a while before she is big enough to go on exhibit, however, be on the lookout for progress reports of our sweet little girl on the Memphis Zoo’s social media accounts!

This press release was produced by the Memphis Zoo. The views expressed here are the author’s own.