Saki monkey born at Paignton Zoo

Paignton Zoo’s white faced saki monkeys have had a baby.

The youngster, which has not been sexed, was born on Sunday 13th May.

The adults came to Paignton Zoo in the autumn of 2009. Male Richard was born in February 2001 at Cologne Zoo, female Carita, born in November 2006, is from Stockholm Zoo. The pair had their first baby at Paignton Zoo in February 2010.

Paignton Zoo Environmental Park Director of Operations and Curator of Mammals Neil Bemment said: “She is being a model mum. Only the mother is carrying the baby at this stage – no doubt it will clamber on dad later, when it becomes more mobile and more adventurous.”

The white faced saki monkey is a New World species, found in the rainforests of South America. They eat fruits, nuts and seeds and use a range of sounds to communicate, including shrill cries, bird-like twitters and deep growls. They are generally shy, cautious animals.

Paignton Zoo researcher Kirsten Pullen is the European Endangered species Programme (EEP) co-ordinator for the species: “Their conservation status is listed as Least Concern but there is still a lot we don’t know about them. We do know they are hunted for meat, taken as pets and suffer from deforestation, so they will probably become increasingly threatened in the future.”