Surprise: unexpected white-faced lemur born at ZooParc Overloon

A white-faced lemur has been born totally unexpectedly at ZooParc Overloon. It is the first lemur cub to come into the world in the South American-inspired expedition site Madidi.

Overloon, Monday, Feb. 20 - A white-faced lemur has been born totally unexpectedly at ZooParc Overloon. It is the first lemur cub to come into the world in the South American-inspired expedition site Madidi.

It was a surprise to the animal keepers when they saw a young on the female lemur. "Whether the female was pregnant we could not yet say for sure. The male lemur came to Overloon in August and it always remains to be seen if it clicks between the two. The gestation of a lemur takes over five months, so do the math!" said head of animal care Steven van den Heuvel.

It is the mother's first young and she is doing very well. "It always remains to be seen if the mother's milk production gets going. That was exciting for a while: unfortunately, it happens regularly that the first young does not survive in primates." said Van den Heuvel. "But fortunately everything seems to be going well with this young for now."

PedigreedThere is a European management program for the white-faced lemur, which originated in South America, that ensures a healthy population of these animals in zoos. "This species is not yet endangered, but the habitat is under pressure," Van den Heuvel said. "These monkeys live in the forests of South America and a lot of logging is going on there. So the area is getting smaller and fragmented. Animals also die because of the work, for example because they are hit by trucks."

ZooParc is coordinator of the management program of this monkey species. That means Van den Heuvel, along with several advisors, is responsible for all white-faced lemurs in European zoos. "As with humans, with animals it is important that pairs are not directly related to keep the population genetically healthy. So a coordinator keeps a close eye on which animals are directly related to each other and make sure that pairs that are formed are not related to each other. To ensure a healthy population in zoos, it is also sometimes chosen to temporarily stop certain pairs of an animal species from reproducing. We want to give all animals a good home when they grow up. Therefore, a coordinator always weighs whether there is enough room for the planned young, and if not, the choice of giving certain animals contraception may be made. Another option is to have certain animals live in a group with only males or females."

Face maleThe white-faced lemur gets its name from the white face of the male. The female, on the other hand, has two white vertical stripes running across the face. The lemur is born with the external features of the female. In this way, the animal does not stand out to predators for the first few months after birth. After two to three months, if it is a male, the white face slowly appears. From then on, the young becomes increasingly independent and around six months, the animal will move around completely on its own.

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