Visitors can already observe the little guereza (Colobus guereza) who was born last week.
The parents have lived in our Tropical House for 3 years, and this newborn is their first offspring. They seem very careful parents, the 6-year-old mother called Jázmin does not let the newborn alone at all, meanwhile the 15-year-old father protects the family against the intruders. The birth of the infant is not an everyday occurrence, since 20 individuals have been born this year in Europe.
The gestation period lasts about 6 months, infants are born with pink skin and white hair in contradistinction to adults’s dark hair.
The hair darkens as they age and by 3-4 months they attain adult coloration.
Their distinctive pelage, being mostly black with a white mantle (named after this), almost caused their extinction 100 years ago. Guerezas are threatened due to hunting for their skins that have been sold for fashion or the tourist trade.
They are special monkeys concerning their diet, since they are mainly leaf-eaters.
Adapting to this, their stomach is more similar to the ungulates’ one than the other primates’ one, thus their feeding is special in zoos: they consume a great number of leaves and vegetables high in fiber.
