Endangered monkey fathers three babies at zoo

Blackpool Zoo said the birth of three King colobus monkeys is being hailed as "an important step for the conservation of this endangered species".

All three have been fathered by Bert, who arrived from a zoological reserve in Suffolk last year to head up the troop as part of a population management programme.

While adults have very distinctive coats that are jet black with thick white hair around the shoulders, chin and cheeks, babies are born completely white.

In the coming months they will be carried by their mothers and other female members of the group in a practice known as allomothering, but it will not be possible to tell what sex they are until they start to explore their surroundings.

The trio were born on 16 and 24 January and 4 February, the zoo said.

Their arrival takes the number of King colobus monkeys at Blackpool Zoo to eight, hailing Bert's introduction last year as "a complete success".

Luke Minns, section head, said: "The birth of these three King colobus infants marks the first mammal arrivals at Blackpool Zoo this year and is an important step for the conservation of this endangered species.

"Bert, our new male, has settled in exceptionally well."

The King colobus is a species of Old World monkey that is found in lowland and mountain rainforests in a region stretching from Senegal, through Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia to the Ivory Coast.

In the wild, numbers have declined over the last few decades, mainly due to hunting and a decline in the quality and quantity of the forested habitat.

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