BABY BOOM AT MARWELL ZOOLOGICAL PARK
From one of the world’s rarest leopards to the world’s only nocturnal monkey, babies of all shapes and sizes are now exploring their surroundings for the first time at Marwell Zoological Park.
With encouragement from her mum, Kiska, the beautiful Amur leopard cub is now strong enough to climb up the trees in her outside area and peer down on visitors from up high. Kiska also likes to spend some of the day practising her hunting skills and particularly likes to chase and bite her mum’s tail! With less than 35 Amur leopards remaining in the wild Kiska was born as part of a European breeding programme to help save the species from extinction.
From one of the largest to some of the smallest carnivores, baby meerkats are now starting to make their first appearances at Marwell. The Keepers have only had a few glimpses of the kittens as they were born underground in their burrow and are only allowed to come up to the surface when they are around three weeks old.
A baby douroucouli can now be seen at the Park - usually hitching a ride on dad’s back. At just 37cm when fully grown they are one of the smallest monkeys in the world. Sometimes called ‘night monkeys’ Douroucouli’s live in South America and are the world’s only nocturnal monkey and as such have large eyes to help them see.
With less than 2000 remaining in the wild, cotton top-tamarins are one of the most endangered primate species in the world. Marwell is very proud to announce that two tamarins were born on 3rd March – helping to safeguard the continued survival of these fascinating little primates. They are facing extinction from their native home in Columbia as many were taken during the 1960s and 70s for use in biomedical research. Today their greatest threat is destruction of their natural habitat, as well as live capture for the pet trade. Sadly, the illegal trade continues despite international laws condemning such activity.
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