animals
Rare spider monkey offspring in London Zoo
Baby spider monkey Cranberry looks out into the world. Photo: Joe Pepler / Chessington World Of / PA Media / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The Colombian spider monkeys are critically endangered. All the greater is the joy in a London zoo over three newcomers.
A London zoo is happy to see rare offspring among its Colombian spider monkeys. Brussel, Sprout and Cranberry are the names of the tiny monkeys that were born in the Chessington World of Adventures Zoo in recent weeks.
According to the zoo, the names – “Brussels Sprouts” means Brussels sprouts – were chosen with a view to the vegetarian diet of the animals and the current Christmas season. “It was incredibly exciting for the whole zoo team to welcome our rare newcomers to Chessington,” said Sam Whitbread of the zoo team.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Colombian spider monkeys are among the species that are acutely threatened with extinction. Brussel and Sprout, a male and a female, are twins and were born on November 13th.
According to the PA News Agency, it is only the fourth time since records began in 1958 that Colombian spider monkeys have been born in Europe.