BATON ROUGE- BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo announced the birth of a baby zebra.

According to zoo officials, the zebra was born on Friday, May 13 and is now on exhibit with its mother.

The baby whose gender is still unknown, according to zoo officials, is the first zebra born at the zoo since 2012.

The birth comes amid 18 animal deaths that have happened this year at the zoo.

“It’s great to have a new zebra baby again since it’s been several years since we had a successful breeding pair,”  Sam Winslow, zoo curator, said.

 “The new baby seems to be doing quite well and is nursing regularly,” Winslow said.

Once the foal is born, it stands almost immediately and is capable of eating grass within a week.

They typically live in small family groups consisting of one male, several females and their young. Even when joining other groups, the family members will remain close to each other, according to zoo officials.

Zoo officials say zebras experience a gestation period of about a year.

Recently the zoo has had 18 animal deaths this year, with the most recent being a juvenile tiger.