Several Brazilian farmers recently became local heroes after discovering a foal that had gotten stuck in an ant hole. The farmers were alerted to trouble when they found the foal’s mother who was alone and appeared to be in some degree of distress, as if something was wrong. All the locals knew the mother horse, Boneca, was pregnant and was expected to go into labor at any time. It became clear that when Boneca came back without her obvious swollen belly, she had very recently given birth. However, the fact that she was not accompanied by a newborn horse made everyone quite concerned.

Boneca’s behavior continued to make the farmers uneasy. They knew something had to be wrong if Boneca returned without her new baby. Boneca’s behavior was also quite irregular. She seemed agitated and couldn’t’ stay still. The farmers determined she must have given birth somewhere isolated, without any other horses around, nor any other farmers. Something must have happened to separate Boneca from her newborn, which would provide an explanation as to why she was acting so different. The farmers determined they would have to try and find the baby. A protective mother, Boneca followed the farmers, seeming to understand that they were trying to locate the baby. After some diligent searching with no success, the farmers heard a strange moaning sound coming from a distance.

Eventually, the group of farmers was able to determine that the strange sound they were hearing was actually Boneca’s foal. When the farmers finally stumbled onto the foal, they realized he’d fallen into an ant hole, further complicating the situation. Boneca was with the farmers and seemed to realize that her baby was in trouble. Farmers gathered various tools to help make the ant hole bigger to get the foal out safely. As the foal was still a newborn they had to be especially careful.

They worked diligently to widen the hole so he could be removed safely. Soon, they were able to pull the baby horse out of the ant hole by holding him by both of his two front legs and slowly helping to hoist him out of the hole. Soon, the foal was back on his own four legs, though he seemed to have difficulty wrapping his head around what exactly had just happened. His mother appeared excited to have her new baby safe and as good as new. Boneca lost no time taking to her motherly role, and soon was nursing her newborn baby. The farmers decided to name the foal Ant after his very early encounter into the world. Boneca, like all female horses, have a typical gestation period of around eleven months and usually give birth to just one baby horse at a time. Thee foal, like Ant, can stand on his own very shortly after birth, and it isn’t uncommon for babies to be excited and even jumpy very early after being born, so Ant finding his way into an ant hole is not entirely surprising. However, given the fact that Ant seemed to be energetic and feisty from the very beginning means he will likely be a very happy and healthy horse, ready to run alongside his mother in the days to come.