Learn English with the News – Baby camel!

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All baby animals are cute, yes? Well, so are baby camels! Find out more about this baby camel by watching the news and learning some new English words.

1. Read the text
2. Understand the vocabulary
3. Watch the news

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Mexico City’s Chapultepec Zoo is celebrating the birth of its first baby dromedary in nine years. While in excellent health, the male calf had a bumpy start in life as he was rejected by his mother Sahara, says zoo director Juan Arturo Rivera.

– We had to make a few arrangements with the offspring because this is a first time mother and there was a bit of aggression towards the baby. We had to separate the young one from the mother because she (mother) was very nervous and begin to artificially feed the offspring.

The unnamed one-humped camel weighed some 24 kilos or 52 pounds at birth on April 5. In less than two weeks he almost doubled his weight, and the zoo is already making future plans.

– We’ll have to work on re-integrating the family and once that happens, the offspring will surely be with us for a couple of years until we determine what would be the best thing for the baby.

But the first order of the day is getting him a proper name for which the zoo is asking help on the Internet.

Web visitors may choose from Ali, which means “very high” or “noble” in Arabic, Hadi, which means “guide down good path,” also in Arabic or Sul-Ik, which means “soft breeze” in Mayan.

Vocabulary

Dromedary – a camel of western Asia and northern Africa that has one hump on its back.

Bumpy – having a lot of problems.

Calf – the young of various other large animals (such as the elephant or whale). And the camel.

Rejected – to refuse to believe, accept, or consider (something).

Arrangements – something that is done to prepare or plan for something in the future.

Offspring – the young of an animal or plant.

Feed – to give food to (someone or something).

Determine – to officially decide (something) especially because of evidence or facts : to establish (something) exactly or with authority.

Proper – correct according to social or moral rules.

Breeze – a gentle wind.

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