Cotswold Wildlife Park welcomes baby Colobus Monkey
The tiny primate, named Alan, was recently born to parents Kasaka and first-time mother Bez and is only the second of this particular species to be born at Cotswold Wildlife Park. Last year, Kasaka fathered his first baby, Christopher, who is keeping a watchful eye on the youngster as he finds his feet.
Born completely white, these primates do not take on the more familiar colouration of the adults until they are around three months old. Jamie Craig, Curator of Cotswold Wildlife Park, said: “The group now has two playful infants to keep an eye on as they make the most of the warm spring weather. All adults take a role in babysitting and luckily, Kasaka is a very patient dad!”
Like all primates, they are highly social animals. They live in family groups composed of a dominant male, several females, and their young. The female Colobus Monkey usually announces that she is ready to mate by tongue smacking. Females give birth to a single offspring approximately every twenty months. In the wild, males leave their birth groups before they are fully mature, either by choice or by force, and live alone or in small bachelor groups. Some will eventually take over a harem of their own. Each group has its own territory in the tree canopy that is well defined and defended.
Cotswold Wildlife Park opens its doors at 10am every day (except Christmas Day), with last admission at 4.30pm
Explore Gloucestershire
30 April 2013
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