Birth of critically endangered monkey at safari park caught on camera

The birth of a critically endangered cotton-top tamarin monkey has been captured on camera at a safari park.

Footage from Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire shows mother Maxi giving birth with father Rico at her side.

Maxi, six, and Rico, five, will co-parent the tiny infant from birth, with the mother responsible for feeding and father for carrying it.

The tiny infant, whose gender is not yet known, weighed around 40g when it was born – the weight of an average egg.

It is really exciting as Maxi and Rico are the first breeding pair at Longleat, and they are critically endangered as there are only around 6,000 in the wild

Longleat keeper Abbi Wheeler

Abbi Wheeler, a keeper at Longleat, said: “We weigh Maxi and Rico weekly as part of our usual checks, and we saw her weight gradually increasing.

“Cotton-top tamarins usually sleep through the night, but Maxi was awake for an hour one night which sent an alert via the camera system as it was unusual.

“When we watched we saw her make a jumping movement and we saw a baby climbing around her side and cling straight onto her fur.

“It is really exciting as Maxi and Rico are the first breeding pair at Longleat, and they are critically endangered as there are only around 6,000 in the wild.

“They share parenting as carrying the baby takes up a lot of energy so mum holds while feeding and then dad carries the infant.”

The birth is part of a European breeding programme for the species.

It is expected that the infant will be fully weaned at around 15 weeks old.

Visitors to Longleat will be able to see Maxi, Rico and their new baby in their enclosure in the Animal Adventure area.

Cotton-top tamarin monkeys, which originate in Colombia, South America, are critically endangered.

Their main diet is insects, fruits and plant exudates such as gum and sap, supplemented with flowers, nectar, eggs and smaller vertebrates.