OLYMPIC fever has spread to Colwyn Bay with The Welsh Mountain Zoo naming its latest arrival after a team GB giant.
Zookeepers have called the first Andean Condor chick bred in Wales, Wiggo, after Olympic hero Bradley Wiggins.
Wiggins, 32, won his gold medal in the time trial at the London Games and also rang the bell for at the opening ceremony, just weeks after he became the first British man to win the Tour de France.
The chick spent 59 days in a specially adapted incubation unit and after 90 hours of trying, finally hatched - much to the delight of zoo staff who had been eagerly awaiting his arrival.
Nick Jackson, director at the Colwyn Bay zoo, said: “Given the excitement surrounding the hatching of our baby Condor and Bradley Wiggins winning gold at the London Olympics, we thought it was only fitting to name this magnificent creature after such a successful athlete.”
Weighing only 178 grams and measuring a very wobbly five inches at birth, Wiggo is already growing at a rapid pace.
A full grown condor will eventually grow to be four feet in height and will weigh up to 15 kilograms with a wingspan of nearly 11 feet.
Wiggo is the first offspring for mum and dad – Sonya and Gus, who arrived at the Zoo in 1989 and were chosen to form part of a carefully controlled European Breeding Programme.
Other animals at the zoo named after famous people include Bryn the Tiger after Bryn Terfel, Rooney the sea lion after Wayne Rooney, William and Kate after the royal couple, and a family of camels including Lock and Slanka, Slammy and Delilah after aspects of Welsh Rugby.
After consultation with the studbook keeper, in the next couple of months Wiggo will move to another zoo and in six to seven years will look to form part of a breeding pair.