Hattiesburg Zoo hosts gender reveal for new hyena cub

It’s been several months since the Hattiesburg Zoo welcomed a new baby hyena into its animal family, with the name and the gender left unknown to the public.

Now, the zoo has announced that the male cub’s name is Kito after holding a gender reveal in the mother hyena’s enclosure.

According to Kristen Moore, a zoo staff member, it took around an hour for Kito’s mother, Pili, to open the box.

“It took a lot of planning,” Moore stated. “We created a box that had some packing paper on the bottom of it and a rope made out of braided packing paper and tied a chicken leg to that. When she pulled it, all of the blue confetti came out.”

Kito, who was born October 17, is the only surviving hyena born in North America in 2022 from a breeding pair recommended by the Species Survival Program.

Moore added that the new cub can be seen every day in his habitat at the zoo with Pili and his father, Niru.