The Philadelphia Zoo welcomed five new bundles of joy.
Five monkeys were born between September and November of this year.
Four of the babies, the black and white colobus monkeys, have the same father, Chua, an 11 year-old colobus monkey. Each have different mothers. A white-handed gibbon baby monkey was born to a different father and mother.
The births take the total number of colobus monkeys to 11 at the zoo.
“It is always exciting for us to announce successful births at Philadelphia Zoo,” says Kevin Murphy, General Curator.
“In this case, we are happy that our management efforts resulted in a substantial growth of one particular group of black and white colobus monkeys, and to once again experience breeding success with an endangered species – the white-handed gibbon.”
This was the first time the Philadelphia Zoo had a "breeding recommendation" for all four females in the colobus monkey group, according to Margaret Degennaro, Philadelphia Zoo communications coordinator.
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All the monkeys are healthy and the colobus monkeys were given immediate access to their outdoor exhibit in the Cheetah Run area of the zoo. The white-handed gibbon monkeys reside in the PECO Primate Reserve.
Colobus monkey babies are white a birth and then achieve their coloration in the first month of life. The species uses "aunting," a parenting technique in which any adult female may care for one of the infants.
