Sydney keepers raise rare baby monkey
FIRST ON 7: Staff at Sydney’s Taronga Park Zoo are going ape for a rare, tiny Francois' Leaf-monkey.
Little Nuoc was born just three months ago, but her mum Saigon could not produce milk.
Zookeepers had to play surrogate mum, feeding her every two hours with baby formula.
"Being a primate we do actually use the same sorts of formulas that human babies have," keeper Jane Marshall said.
It was touch-and-go at the start, but the outlook is good with her family accepting Nuoc back into the group, and her mum and auntie helping with feeds.
"We are actually able to call them over and feed her a bottle through the mesh, so she's going to develop all the social skills that she needs to go on and be a very well adjusted monkey," her keeper said.
"She's so bright and bounces around and plays - she's just beautiful."
Francois' Leaf-monkeys are extremely rare; there are about 500 left in the wild, with Taronga the only zoo breeding them in the region, making sure Nuoc does well is very serious monkey business.
In three months she has almost doubled in weight to 700 grams, and she is continuing to bulk up on a diet of fruit and vegetables before switching to an all leaf menu.
Stay tuned for Nuoc's public debut.
