Baby monkey born as part of Chester Zoo's baby animal bonanza
Mum Tilu can be seen cradling the little gibbon which still doesn’t have a name, a day after she gave birth.
The silvery gibbon – a highly endangered primate – was born to mum Tilu and dad Alven on Wednesday October 10 after Tilu was pregnant for more than 200 days.
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Hide AdThe tiny pink-faced little gibbon is still much too small to be sexed and therefore hasn’t been named yet.
And the little one is among an unprecedented number of new arrivals at the zoo this year.
Other new additions in the baby boom include an Asian elephant calf, a black rhino calf, a sun bear cub, a greater one-horned rhino calf, an okapi and a baby West African chimpanzee.
A grand total of 733 mammals have been born so far in 2018, far exceeding the previous highest total of 566 in the same time period.
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Hide AdMike Jordan, the zoo’s collections director, said: “This new baby gibbon has arrived hot on the heels of a whole host of other important births. Indeed over the last few months we’ve witnessed a huge baby boom at the zoo – including the most mammal births on record.
“Silvery gibbons, as with the vast majority of the species born recently, face threats to their survival in the wild. Importantly, each new arrival is helping us to raise awareness of the issues they face and the conservation work the zoo is doing to try and protect them, as well as being a valuable part of their respective conservation breeding programmes.”
What animals are at Chester Zoo?
1. A baby silvery gibbon – the zoo’s latest arrival, Gibbons are often described as monkeys but they are most usually categorized as apes.
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Hide Ad2. A sun bear cub – the first of its kind to be born in the UK
3. A baby Western chimpanzee – the first born at the zoo for 10 years
4. An Asian elephant calf – born to the zoo’s eldest female, Thi Hi Way
5. A greater one-horned rhino calf – vulnerable to extinction in the wild
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Hide Ad6. A baby Sumatran orangutan – critically endangered in the wild
7. A black rhino calf – a huge boost to the species with only 650 estimated to remain globally
8. An endangered okapi calf – named Semuliki by zookeepers
9. Babirusa triplets – one of the world’s rarest pig species
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Hide Ad10. Asian short-clawed otter pups – the smallest otter species on the planet
11. Red river hog triplets – the world’s most colourful species of pig
12. Two onager foals – one of the world’s rarest species of equid
13. Bush dog pups – the biggest litter ever at the zoo
14. Rock hyrax pups – tiny mammals with a surprising genetic link to elephants
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Hide Ad15. A baby Sulawesi macaque – a critically endangered primate
How to get to Chester Zoo
Chester Zoo is around a two and half hour drive from Leeds and easily accessible from motorways and it only a few minutes of the M56.
By train the nearest station is Chester Zoo and bus service X8 links the zoo to the station.