Sometimes sadness and joy are very close together. So also on Monday evening in the Frankfurt zoo. Here there was first a sad news: one of the best known and most popular animals, aardvark Elvis, has died due to age of natural causes. However, only a few hours after Elvis fell asleep peacefully, there was also good news from the aardvarks: Ermine gave birth to a cub.
Born in 1993, Elvis was already an aged aardvark - he would have turned 25 in August. He had lived at Frankfurt Zoo since 1997. He came here from the Memphis zoo - and that's how the extremely affable and friendly aardvark male got his name.
Because aardvarks are solitary animals, Elvis was at times kept separate from his partner Ermine in a behind-the-scenes enclosure. Here he was occasionally allowed to walk in the keeper's area and ride the freight elevator, which he obviously enjoyed. Across the board, Elvis was decidedly patient and careful with people, so much so that he would occasionally get visitors and was referred to as an "educational aardvark" with a twinkle in his eye.
The fact that Elvis was so patient also made the medical treatments that had become increasingly necessary in recent months easier. In April, reports from the Hofheim Veterinary Clinic caused quite a stir. There Elvis was examined and treated for a cyst.
With great will to live, Elvis recovered well each time and lived together with Ermine in best aardvark manner. However, last weekend he suddenly deteriorated, stopped eating and became inactive. All signs indicated that his time had come, as even immediately initiated diagnostics and treatments could not stop the rapid progression.
The exact cause of death is now being routinely clarified at the Hessian State Laboratory in Giessen.
Elvis was a good breeder. Just one year after his arrival in Frankfurt, his first kitten was born. Four offspring currently live in Germany, England and the Netherlands. And on Tuesday July 10, the joy was great when the expected cub of Elvis and ten-year-old Ermine was born in the afternoon.
Ermine and the little one are doing well. The two are still in the whelping box and are not visible to visitors. It will be a few weeks before the two can be seen in the show pen. The sex of the kitten is not yet known. In memory of his popular father, the little one has already been named Memphis
