ZooBorns

Better Bottle Feed That Baby!

Keepers at Des Moines, Iowa's Blank Park Zoo sprang into action when it became clear the mother of a new born baby Japanese Macaque was neglecting her infant. The female baby monkey, born April 20, is now being bottle fed every couple of hours and will remain in keepers' care until she is fully weaned and able to rejoin the Macaque troop. 

“This is a positive step forward for the Japanese macaque breeding program, but we can’t call it a success until the mothers learn how to care for their young” said Kevin Drees, director of animal care and conservation. “None of our females of breeding age have raised a baby before so that is why keepers had to intervene.”

 

Japanese macaques are threatened due to deforestation and the loss of their habitat. As human development invades the territories of these macaques, human and macaque encounters increase, and about 5000 macaques are captured or shot each year (despite protection from the Japanese government) for they are considered as agricultural pests.

A Star Is Born!

The zoo at Paris' Museum of Natural History, called The Menagerie, just announced the birth of a tiny male White-collared Mangabey. Born on March 5th, baby "Loango" was rejected by his birth mother. Keepers at The Menagerie stepped in to hand-rear the newborn and so far he is doing extremely well. The visiting public can see Loango at feeding times eating cooked veggies and fresh fruits and taking milk from a bottle. Loango represents a very rare captive birth for an endangered species, which is the subject of a European breeding program (EEP). The playful and mischievous monkey will remain in constant visual contact with his family until he is ready to join them in a few weeks.

Photo credit: Jérôme Munier / MNHN

Many more images beneath the fold...

Smithsonian National Zoo Welcomes a Baby Black Howler Monkey

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo's Small Mammal House celebrated the birth of a Black Howler monkey (Alouatta caraya) on March 22. Since then, keepers have been monitoring the family at a distance, allowing mom Chula along with the father, Pele, to bond with their baby. They've proven to be excellent first-time parents. The baby seems bright, alert, and increases its activity and independence day by day. This is the first surviving howler monkey in the Zoo’s history of exhibiting the animal. Its gender has not yet been determined. 

Why are they called howlers? Their thick necks house a unique voice box, including an enlarged hyoid bone, that enables male howler monkeys to penetrate three miles of dense forest with a single rumbling growl. These booming territorial calls have earned the primates, which are native to Central and South America, the title of loudest animal in the New World (North, Central and South America). The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the black howler monkey as least concern.

Photo Credit: Photos 1, 2, 3, 5, 6: Janice Sveda / Photos 4,7: Clyde Nishumura

Have You Seen a Grizzled Leaf Monkey?

Primate keepers at Howletts Wild Animal Park near Canterbury have welcomed a very special new arrival to their family of Grizzled Leaf Monkeys. The baby was born on February 14 to mom Juleha and has been named Asmara by her doting keepers. Asmara's birth makes her the twentieth baby to join the family at Howletts - home to the only group of Grizzled Leaf monkeys in human care outside their native land of Java. 

Head Primate Keeper Matt Ford said, "We are delighted with this new arrival; Mum and baby are doing very well. This new birth provides hope for the survival of these endangered primates in captivity." 

Grizzled Leaf monkeys are native to Java and live in primary and secondary rainforest, although drastic deforestation in the area has lead to destruction of their habitat, forcing them to live in forest fragments at higher altitude. Matt added "Deforestation has resulted in habitat loss for the Grizzled Leaf Monkey – only 4% of their original forest habitat remains on the island of Java." 

Photo Credit: Dave Rolfe

Read more about the Aspinall Foundation's work with the grizzled green leaf monkey after the jump. 

Golden Lion Tamarin Babies Are A Boon For Conservation

The arrival of new baby Golden Lion Tamarins on February 14th has brought particular joy to Zoo Basel. Castor (17) and Lilian (5) have become an experienced breeding pair with their second delivery of twins. Last year, they made the headlines with Basel Zoo’s first golden lion tamarin birth in twenty years. This year’s two baby Monkeys are full of energy and doing very well.

The zoo has had to wait a long time for these happy events, as the last opportunity to marvel at young golden lion tamarins in Basel was twenty years ago. The first pairing between Castor, from Sweden, and Lilian, imported from Holland, took place following an approach phase of just under two years in exile whilst the monkey house was being renovated. Apparently they now feel equally at home in the re-opened monkey house, demonstrated by the arrival of their two offspring on 14th February this year. Twin births are common in Tamarin and Marmoset pairings, and are standard for Golden Lion Tamarins.

Photo credit: Zoo Basel

Golden Lion Tamarins live in family groups of up to ten. In Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest, their area of origin, a family will claim a territory covering an area at least four times the size of Basel Zoo. What is particularly fascinating about these monkeys is the way in which social frameworks vary greatly from family to family. The most common framework is a pairing for life (monogamy), followed by a female with multiple male mates (polyandry) and a male with multiple female mates (polygyny). All members of the group are needed to successfully rear young. For example, the father offers energetic help in carrying the young monkeys around on his back.

Webcam Watch! The Third Patas Monkey Baby for Rosamond Gifford Zoo

The Rosamond Gifford Zoo announced the birth of a third Patas Monkey. Parents Sara and M.J., welcomed the new baby – a boy, named Ty –  on January 17. “Ty is Sara’s first baby,” said Zoo Director Ted Fox. “She's proven to be an excellent mother, no doubt due to the skills she learned by watching and assisting her mother, Addie, care for D.J. and Kibibi over the past year.”

Patas monkeys are members of the Guenon family, a diverse group of African monkeys found from the rainforest of Western Africa through the savannahs of Kenya. In the wild, breeding typically occurs in the summer, which is the wet season, while births occur in the dry winter months. After an average gestation length of 167 days, the female gives birth to a single offspring. The nursing period extends for approximately six months.

In celebration, Friends of the Zoo funded the installation of a web cam for zoo fans to observe the monkeys online. Janet Agostini, president of Friends of the Zoo said, “Our group of patas monkeys is very active and this web cam will give people the chance to watch them as often as they’d like.”

Photo Credit: Photo 1: Ashley Redhead, Photos 2-6:Terri Redhead

See additional photos and read more about Patas Monkeys after the jump!

It's a New Baby Goeldi's Monkey for Lee Richardson Zoo

Something important has happened at Lee Richardson Zoo in Kansas... a baby black Goeldi's Monkey was born February 19. It's too early to tell the baby's gender. The little one's parents, Domingo and Sucre, average just 14 to 18 ounces in size to begin with, so the baby is quite tiny and can barely be seen as it clings to it's mother's upper back. 

Sucre is a first time mom but she's showing excellent maternal instincts, and will care for the baby on her own for the first two weeks before allowing the father to help. 

Goeldi’s monkeys live in the rain and mixed deciduous forests of South America’s Upper Amazon basin. This “elfin” primate powerhouse navigates it arboreal home, leaping from tree to tree, and may cover 13 feet in a single bound. Listed as Vulnerable in the wild, the species is threatened by deforestation and poaching.  

Photo Credits: Stacy Plocher/Lee Richardson Zoo

Read more about how the Goeldi parents met after the jump.

UPDATE! First Snow for Baby Panda

You first read about Fu Hu, the baby panda born at Viennas' Schönbrunn Zoo, in our ZooBorns.com article back in November of 2010. 

Though born last year, he is experiencing the joy of romping in the first snow of his life because he spent all last winter in his birthing box. He pads through the snow-covered enclosure, climbs up the icy tree trunks and nosily sniffs the blanket of white. Neither he nor his parents, Yang Yang and Long Hui, have any fear of contact with the chilly and damp elements. Pandas live in the foggy and humid mountain forests of Southwest China and are very well adapted to cold and snow.

“Even the sole of their paws is covered in fur. This not only protects them against the cold it also prevents them from slipping on the snow and ice” explains the Zoo’s director, Dagmar Schratter.

Watching the Pandas play in the snow is bound to warm the heart of the Zoo’s visitors.

Photo Credit: Daniel Zupanc

More photos after the jump!

Tiny Titi Monkey Takes a Ride on Dad

This tiny Titi Monkey is the youngest resident of the Basel Zoo monkey house. Born on December 27, the baby is tiny, and is being carefully looked after by all the family members.

Titi monkeys form lifetime relationships with a partner they choose right after leaving their family group at the age of three. Third-time mother Chica, age 9, and 6 year-old father Gunther are the parents. Gestation lasts for about 5 months after which a single baby -- or sometimes twins -- are born. Two days later, the father starts taking care of the newborn, carrying it on his back, and teaching the little one all it will need to know to become independent. The process takes about 3-4 months. Male Titi monkey are surprisingly caring and attentive and play the largest role in a baby’s upbringing; mothers interact with the baby only when it’s time for feeding. The father tends to its offspring for three to four months, when the young monkey can climb and feed on its own.

In the wild these monkey families live in the lower floors of the South American rain forest. They claim small territories of several square kilometers, where they feed mainly on fruit and leaves. Titi monkeys' survival is threatened mainly by habitat destruction. 

Photo Credit: Zoo Basel

Good News! Critically Endangered Spider Monkey Born at Twycross Zoo

Born December 8, these are the early pictures of a new baby Veriegated Spider Monkey at the UK's Twycross Zoo. This is the first Spider monkey baby born there in 10 years. And as you can see, the baby's mum takes good care to cradle her baby when outdoors. At times, the whole family gathers round while the baby sleeps, secure on it's mother's shoulder.

Veriegated Spider monkeys are critically endangered due to habitat loss, hunting and the pet trade and are listed as one of the 25 most endangered primates by IUCW. It's estimated that over 90% of their natural habitat in northern Columbia and north-western Venezuelais is already gone and of the approximately 60 Spider monkeys in Eurpoean zoos, there were no births in the year of May 2009-2010. That makes this baby a very valuable and important addition to the remaining population.

Photo Credits: Gillian Day

Read more after the jump: