A critically endangered chimpanzee has been born at Chester Zoo.
The female newcomer – a Western chimpanzee – is the first of its kind to be born at the zoo for nearly a decade.
Primate experts say the baby is in good health and inseparable from her mother, 24-year-old ZeeZee.
The little girl has even been adorable captured on camera playing with her mum.
Her birth follows a scientific project, spanning several years, which has examined genetics and identified the chimps at Chester as a critically important breeding population.
It is estimated that there could be as few 18,000 remaining in the wild.
The study has confirmed that the chimps at Chester are the highly threatened West African subspecies – one of the rarest in the world – establishing the group as a critically important breeding population.
The last chimpanzee born at the zoo was Tina, the new born’s big sister who was born in February 2009.
This is the third child for Mum ZeeZee who herself was born at the zoo.
Mike Jordan, Collections Director at the zoo said: ‘The new arrival is particularly important as it contributes to better genetic diversity in the European Western chimpanzee population. It comes after a five-year-long scientific study of chimpanzees in zoos across Europe confirmed that the group of chimps at Chester is one of the rarest in the world – making it even more important to conservation breeding than was ever thought.
‘In the wild, the Western chimpanzee is under huge threat from bush-meat hunting as well as extensive and increasing habitat loss and fragmentation from human activity, so much so that it is the first ever chimpanzee subspecies to join the list of critically endangered great apes. It makes the group at Chester an important conservation insurance population and the new baby is hugely significant.’
The female newcomer – a Western chimpanzee – is the first of its kind to be born at the zoo for nearly a decade
Primate experts say the baby is in good health and inseparable from her mother, 24-year-old ZeeZee
The Western chimpanzee is found in West Africa where it is patchily distributed from Senegal to Ghana and is already thought to be extinct in Benin, Burkina Faso and Togo.
In Chester, the new arrival has increased the number in the group to 20 and zoo primate experts say the baby has excited other chimps in the family.
Tim Rowlands, Curator of Mammals, added: ‘Mum and baby have bonded positively and ZeeZee is naturally being incredibly protective of her newborn.
‘She’s a wonderful, experienced mother and has learnt much of her parenting skills from her own mum Mandy, who is also part of the group and always on hand to lend her support.
‘The interactions between the group are incredibly fascinating to watch. A new baby brings a new dynamic and the group is in a real state of excitement – particularly given that they haven’t seen a baby in their group for the best part of a decade.’
The little girl has even been adorable captured on camera playing with her mum
The newborn’s birth follows a scientific project, spanning several years, which has examined genetics and identified the chimps at Chester as a critically important breeding population