Monday, May 16, 2011

Vancouver Aquarium welcomes birth of baby monkey

http://www.theprovince.com/life/4781130.bin?size=620x400
Ginger, a Goeldi's monkey, gave birth to a baby on April 16, bringing the family in the Graham Amazon Gallery to four.

By Staff Reporter, The Province

The Vancouver Aquarium's Amazon exhibit has a new baby monkey.

Ginger, a Goeldi's monkey, gave birth to a baby on April 16, bringing the family in the Graham Amazon Gallery to four.

"Mother and baby are doing very well," said animal operations director Dennis Thoney in a release.

"Staff and volunteers have been closely monitoring the baby since birth to ensure the newborn was nursing and bonding properly."

http://www.theprovince.com/life/4779948.bin?size=620x400

The new baby is joined by mom Ginger, dad Fred and older brother Diego.

"Typically, when Goeldi’s monkeys give birth, the mother is known to be protective of her offspring and spend the majority of time bonding with it first," said Thoney.

"She carries it on her back and the minuscule baby blends in with the mother’s fur. As time progresses, she will allow the other members of the family to bond with it and participate in the rearing of her young."

Ginger has so far only allowed the dad to carry her baby for short periods.

"Over the next week or so, we expect her to allow Diego, the older brother, to come closer and examine the new baby, providing more interactions between them as the baby grows more independent.

"It certainly is an exciting period for us as we have only been home to this family for a few months."

The gender of the monkey has yet to be determined, and a name has not been picked.


1 comment:

Kelly said...

Vancouver Aquarium has monkeys?
That sounds contradictory.


...unless they're aquatic monkeys.