Birth of an Owl-faced monkey

Here are the first pictures of the baby Owl-faced monkey born a couple of weeks ago. This is the third infant of our 10-year-old female who was transferred to the zoo in 2017.

This birth is of high importance for the Owl-faced monkey European Breeding Program which includes less than 25 individuals distributed in 7 zoological institutions and more globally, for the conservation of this primate classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and whose numbers are declining in its range which extends from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to southwestern Rwanda.

Owl-faced monkeys are indeed threatened by the destruction of their habitat and poaching for bushmeat. In addition, because of the latent insecurity in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it is very difficult to collect information on the status of the species which could be more alarming than expected.