In the Amazon House at Twycross Zoo is a New Baby Woolley Monkey

By Kim Riley 

Atherstone, UK - The latest edition in the Amazon House at Twycross Zoo is a Woolley monkey, born on 10th June 2009. The cute male baby can be seen peeking out from under his mother’s chest as he clings to her belly fur with his tiny little hands. 

This is a revisit to the beginning for the Zoo; in 1949 two ladies, Miss Molly Badham and Miss Nathalie Evans, owned rival pet shops in Sutton Coldfield. Miss Evans had a Woolley monkey in her shop window and Miss Badham wanted to buy it. Eventually she did, his name was “Sambo” and he was purchased for £35.00. This was the beginning of a very long lasting partnership between the two ladies and their primate collection, which gradually became larger and eventually turned into Twycross Zoo, the World Primate Centre. Twycross Zoo has the best exhibit of Woolley Monkeys in captivity in Europe.

Mother “Djoi” is an outstanding and experienced caring mother, including this baby this is now Djoi’s seventh offspring. Our Woolley monkey group now consists of 6 individuals, Dad “Miguel” is very protective towards his new son and he can be seen boisterously throwing ropes around the enclosure to show he is around to protect the new baby. 

The new baby will ride on Djoi’s front clinging on from birth and after approximately three weeks he will move onto her back. He will be completely dependent on his mother for the first few months but by six months he will move around by himself. The newborn will suckle from his mother until he is seven months old but he may still be seen suckling for comfort until he is about eighteen months old when he will move onto a vegetable diet. Woolley monkeys are quite sensitive and cannot tolerate too much sugar so their captive diet is made up of root vegetables, leafy vegetables, nuts, leaves (hawthorn, willow) and chicken, their favourite fruits are raspberries and kiwis.

Woolley monkeys are an endangered species; they come from South America where they live in the undisturbed humid forests in the Andes. They also range from Columbia and Central Brazil to eastern Ecuador and Peru. These monkeys are mostly arboreal (live in the trees) but they will come to the ground for food.

Woolley monkeys live in social groups and have a very complex communication system. They use vocalisation, scent, visual and touch to communicate between individuals. The group consists of many males and females all of who get to reproduce and the gestation period is seven months. The average lifespan of a Woolley monkey is approximately thirty years.

Woolley monkeys are very thickset animals. They look bulky and have a very large head in comparison to their body. Their fur is very thick and mostly dark grey, although sometimes has a silvery appearance. As most New World monkeys, Woolley monkeys have a prehensile tail. Their tail has a bald patch on the underside of the end of their tail and they use this for gripping so in effect they have a fifth limb.

To view Twycross Zoo's web page on Zoo and Aquarium Visitor, go to: http://www.zandavisitor.com/forumtopicdetail-712-Twycross_zoo