Newborn manatee takes first swim at Dutch zoo

Staff at Royal Burgers' Zoo in the Dutch city of Arnhem have welcomed a newborn manatee, a marine mammal native to the Caribbean.

A spokesman for he zoo said: "The birth went very smoothly this morning. The mother is experienced. She already had another calf and this is her second calf. The calf appears quite large at birth. It also appears very healthy because it almost immediately surfaced in order to breathe. And it almost started immediately to search for mother's mammaries in order to drink milk.

"In nature, normally, the father doesn't play a role in raising the calf. But they are really friendly animals. There is no aggressiveness in them."