Celebrate Year of the Monkey at Auckland Zoo!

MEDIA RELEASE
19 January 2004

Celebrate Year of the Monkey at Auckland Zoo!

Monday 26 January 2004 10.30am – 2.30pm

Auckland Zoo is joining in the Chinese New Year celebrations in style this year and everyone’s invited to come along on Monday, 26 January from 10.30am – 2.30pm!

It’s the Year of the Monkey, and not only do we have lots of monkeys, we’ve got lots of their relatives – from chimpanzee, orangutan, siamang gibbon (the smallest of the apes) to lemurs and the adorable cotton-top tamarins. This day’s your chance to meet them all!

The Lion Dancers start the celebrations in traditional style at 10.30am at the zoo’s Entrance Plaza. Their ceremonial dance will banish demons and bring good luck to the zoo (and hopefully for you!) for the coming year.

Enjoy entertainment at the Band Rotunda, with Asian music and cultural performances, as well as the chance to sample the many and varied tastes from this region at our open air ‘food court’.

There’ll be lots of ‘monkeying around’ for the kids with some awesome prizes to be won, and Carmel’s Face Painters will be here too.

Your gold coin donation to get your face painted will go towards the zoo’s Conservation Fund, which supports the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (Orangutan in the wild are endangered and this project is committed to assisting these animals in their native habitat).

For the kids (and grown-ups), there’s also ‘Monkey Tales’ (a special guided trek through our Rainforest), happening regularly between 11am – 1.30pm.

Also, be sure not to miss the additional encounters with our primate residents as you journey round the zoo:

11am: Cotton-top tamarins (opposite the meerkat enclosure)
11.30am: Ring-tailed lemurs
1.15pm: Orangutan
1.45pm: Spider monkeys (at the Rainforest)

Darwin’s café, which is licensed, and fully caters for both kids and grown-ups, will be open, along with the zoo’s Wild Zone Gift Shop.

Normal zoo admission prices apply – $13 adults, $10 students and $7 for children 4 years and over.

Ends

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