A third capuchin baby monkey in the last seven months has been born at Brooklands Zoo.

The unnamed baby arrived early Sunday, 15 February and has settled in well within the troop.

“It was born following the UB40 concert – while people were enjoying the music at the Bowl, mum Mani was getting ready to welcome her newborn to the world,” says Brooklands Zoo Lead Eve Cozzi.

“The baby’s strong and healthy and clinging to mum well, and Mani’s protective of it. We won’t know the baby’s sex until it’s older.”

This is the third recent baby by dad Churi, with Rio born at the zoo on 2 August and Caju on 29 August last year.

Tufted capuchins are a social species, living in groups consisting of one or two adult males and many females.

Eve says having a breeding group enables interactive and playful moments between older and younger capuchins, just as would happen in the wild. “It’s wonderful that zoo visitors get to see that type of interaction,” she says.

The baby brings the number of capuchins at Brooklands Zoo to ten.

Mani was born at Brooklands Zoo in 2017 while Churi who was born in Hamilton Zoo in 2015.

Capuchins come from central and south America however their number in the wild is declining, with threats including deforestation and the pet trade.

Brooklands Zoo is part of a regional managed breeding programme for tufted capuchins through the Zoo and Aquarium Association.

At a glance:

• More than 137,000 people visit Brooklands Zoo each year.
• The zoo is a MPI (Ministry for Primary Industries) approved facility, and a Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA) welfare accredited member.

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