Baby Black Lemur Born This Past Week!! + Enrichment for Spider Monkeys

25th April 2011

We are very pleased to announce that a new baby Black Lemur has been born this past week at the Isle of Wight Zoo! Born on the 20th of April, this past Wednesday, the little baby has been clinging onto the underbelly of mother 'Adala' since then. She is very difficult to see but you might be able to catch a glimpse of a tiny head or tail protruding from Adala's underside, probably with father 'Mitsio' (affectionately known as 'Scrappy') making noise near-by. Black Lemur babies cling to their mother's underside for 3 weeks when they will then move onto their mother's backs until they are fully weaned at 5-6 months.

Those of you that have been to the zoo will know that the Black Lemurs are quite small, so one can appreciate the little one's current size in this photo of it's head set against the backdrop of mother Adala's fur. It's head is about the size of a fifty pence piece!

We shall be holding a naming competition for the new Black Lemur once the sex of the young one has been deduced.

The Spider Monkeys got a new object to play with today in the form of a hanging tyre for them to swing on. It is always good to change around the environment the animals live and give them new things to explore, especially adding into the equation the dynamic of a swinging tyre! Here Zoo Curator Paul Bailie tests the fun potential of the swinging tyre before letting out the Spider Monkeys to have a go:



Photo of the Day:

The Spider Monkeys Ike and Jackson also got a few generous spreads of strawberry jam hidden in the climbing wall holds that were put up for them a couple of months back. They hadn't really used the new climbing wall groves since they were installed so what better way to get them to explore their ability and use for climbing that to hide jam inside of them!

Here one of the Spider Monkeys looks at his jam covered fingers before eating the tasty treat whilst showing off his ability to use his prehensile tail as a 5th limb. The shadows make an interesting addition to the image.