The first ever Gelada Monkey baby has been born at award-winning Yorkshire Wildlife Park

The adorable youngster, who is enjoying being carried around by mum, is already warming the hearts of visitors. Obi and his bother Taylor arrived in Yorkshire from Colchester Zoo in 2020 as a key part of this breeding programme.

Rangers have been working with the EAZA Ex-situ program (EEP) for Gelada on number of research projects for years. The first initiative was introducing two new breeding males to the already established group of primates which has never been done before.

Greg Clifton, Team Leader of Primates, said “It has been an extremely exciting time at the park seeing the arrival of the first ever baby Gelada born at YWP.

“We have been watching Feven closely for the last six months throughout her pregnancy. Female Geladas show their reproductive cycle on their chests unlike other species of primates, which may show their statuses through their bottoms.

“As part of our husbandry and care here at the park we record every female’s monthly cycle to help us work out who is pregnant in our groups. Watching these key signs closely is how we found out that Feven was pregnant. This was also made earlier by been able to weigh her on a regular basis to see her progress thanks to kind donation of the scale by Marsden scales.

“When the two new breeding males, Obi and Taylor, were introduced to the park resident hareem lead by Harry, an immediate split occurred within the harem, where females on the peripheral joined the new two males. Our residents are now split into a hareem of ten, Harry`s group, and a hareem of five, Obi and Taylor’s group lead by Obi, with the smaller group currently being subordinate. The groups currently display a social system similar to that seen in wild Gelada.

“It is very early days for the youngster, but we are looking forward to seeing the new baby grow within the group at the park and hopefully this is the beginning of many more successful births of Gelada babies!”

Yorkshire Wildlife Park is the UK’s No. 1 wildlife walk-through adventure and puts conservation at the heart of all its activities.