ZooParc welcomes red titi, white-faced lemur and bamboo lemur

ZooParc has welcomed a total of four male monkeys: two red titi, one white-faced lemur and one Alaotra bamboo lemur. The red titi are a new species of monkey at the park.

The red titi, from Apenheul, are three and four years old. These monkeys can be recognized by their dense, fluffy and reddish-brown fur. Steven van den Heuvel, chief zookeeper says, "It is very special that the red titi's, Pebas and Jutai, have arrived in our park. We are happy that the red titi management program has entrusted these two men to us."

In addition, ZooParc has welcomed five-year-old male white-faced lemur Denny from Marwell Zoo in England. "They got their name from the color of the male's face. This is because the females only have two white stripes along the nose," van den Heuvel informed.

These three monkeys live in the wild in the tropical regions of South America. In Overloon, therefore, they live in Madidi, the South America area of ZooParc.

Jumping to reeds
Finally, ten-year-old male Alaotra bamboo lemur Dadou has also moved to ZooParc from Marwell Zoo. He has been given a place with the female bamboo lemurs in the Itampolo area. The Itampolo area revolves around Madagascar and here visitors are surrounded by ring-tailed lemurs.

Bamboo lemurs can be recognized by their brown, woolly fur and pointed snout with a wet nose tip. This species of monkey lives in the wild in Madagascar's reed beds. To move through these fields, he climbs a cane until it bends over. He stays on it until he can reach the next stem, to which he then jumps.

Endangered
The bamboo lemur is under serious threat. This is because their habitat is increasingly disappearing. They are counted among the most endangered monkey species in the world.

Van den Heuvel reports, "The white-faced lemurs and red titi are fortunately still found in many places and are not threatened because of this. Yet their future is not carefree. This is because the tropical rainforest is under pressure from logging and in addition, these animals are hunted for their meat."

European management program
Therefore, there is a European management program for these animals. The goal of this program is to ensure healthy populations in European zoos, which can serve as reserve populations for the animals in the wild. European management programs have a coordinator and he or she keeps a pedigree book for each animal, which records, among other things, which zoo they were born in, who the parents and grandparents are and if there are any diseases in the family line, for example.

Van den Heuvel is coordinator of the European management program for the white-faced lemurs: "The arrival of this man took some time after the opening of Madidi. Genetically, however, Denny was the best partner for our female Nova. Hopefully, with his arrival, as well as the arrival of the male bamboo lemur, we will be able to contribute to maintaining a healthy population of these monkey species over time."

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