Some really unusual firsts took place in 1988. At the Zoo, a rhino redhead named Barakas surprised many visitors, and the hatching of a Malagasy leaf-tailed gecko at the Reptile House, thought to be the first outside of Madagascar, had keepers watching and recording its every move—when it moved. At the Wild Animal Park, three beautiful Mandarin sika deer, a male and two females, arrived as part of a trade with the Chengdu Zoo in China, a species never seen outside of China before.