The Calgary Zoo announced Monday that its 16-year old Bactrian camel named Eva died unexpectedly on Friday night while in early labour.
“Eva experienced complications while starting to give birth to a female calf that was in an abnormal birthing position,” the zoo said.
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“During labour, Eva ruptured one of the large blood vessels associated with her uterus and quickly succumbed to heavy internal bleeding.”
The zoo said the calf was never born.
Eva was the mother of a camel named Gobi, born in 2018. She was approaching the median life expectancy of 17.8 years for Bactrian camels under human care, the zoo explained.