Taronga Zoo welcomes newborn chimpanzee
Sydney's Taronga Zoo is celebrating the arrival of a newborn chimpanzee, with its mother showing off the healthy male baby.
Keepers spotted the newborn in the chimps' night dens on Monday morning cradled in the arms of its mother, Lisa.
They believed the young male was born on Sunday night.
"Lisa is a very relaxed mother and has shown her great experience since the birth, confidently carrying her youngster out into the chimpanzee sanctuary," said Taronga Zoo's primate supervisor Lou Grossfeldt.
It is the third chimp born this year and takes their population at Taronga Zoo to 19, which is the largest it has been for many years.
The birth follows the arrival of another young male, Sudi, who was born six weeks ago to mother Shiba.
Zoo keepers were able to identify the sex of the new chimp within a matter of hours because mother Lisa was so proud to show off her new arrival.
Keepers will soon choose a name that reflects the baby's nature and African heritage.
"The little boy is born to one of our higher ranking females and she's quite a confident individual, and she's had plenty of children before so she's relaxed and comfortable with her role," said Allan Schmidt, senior keeper at Taronga Zoo.
"The little baby boy is doing really well, he's very healthy and very alert and it's really great to have this next generation of three new infants on the ground.
"For a three-day-old baby he's aware of what's going on around him and this doesn't usually happen until they're a few weeks old."
The arrival of a new chimpanzee is a big event and has a profound effect on the social structure of the primate community.
Chimpanzee population under threat
"(The newborns) are very important for the stability of a large community of chimpanzees because everybody loves kids and infants are good for reconciling and dissolving tension between all the members of the community," Mr Schmidt said.
Chimpanzees are listed as critically endangered, with worldwide numbers now estimated at 250,000.
There are new threats to the species including the Ebola virus in West Africa.
"(Ebola) affects chimpanzees and gorillas just as much as it does humans. Unfortunately nobody is putting in a lot of money into saving the chimpanzees," Mr Schmidt said.
"In the past, Ebola virus has wiped out entire populations of chimps and gorillas in Africa."
The birth coincided with the start of the school holidays in New South Wales and Mr Schmidt said the event would help people learn about the intelligence and compassion of chimpanzees.
"With this new generation of chimps coming through, we're seeing a lot of altruistic behaviour to the new arrivals from other young chimps and they've been playing with them, and mentoring them as well which is very nice to see," he said.
