Critically Endangered Baby Columbian Black Spider Monkey born at Fota Wildlife Park

Fota Wildlife Park today announced the birth of a Columbian black spider monkey, Ateles fusciceps rufiventris, to mother Norma and father Pinky as part of a European endangered breeding programme (EEP) and is calling on the public to help name the baby.

The new baby spider monkey was born on the 4th of March 2022, and this is Norma and Pinky’s third baby together. Mother, Norma, is eleven years old, and she arrived in Fota Wildlife Park in 2015 from Le Bioparc de Doué-la-Fontaine in France. Ten-year-old father Pinky was born at Fota.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified the Columbian black spider monkey as critically endangered due to hunting, habitat destruction and a long birth cycle. Females only give birth every two or three years.

The Spider monkeys recently moved into their new purpose-built house and upgraded outdoor habitat, which features an extended island and a new water moat and waterfall. This project was part-funded by the Government via the Office of Public Works, who also supported other capital projects at Fota Wildlife Park, including the south sea wall repairs and the Howler monkey house construction.

Teresa Power, Lead Ranger said, “We are delighted to announce the birth of any critically endangered animal. It helps us raise awareness about species loss in the wild and the conservation work here at Fota. European wildlife parks and zoos run cooperative breeding programmes as a demographic and genetic backup to wild populations.

“We don’t know yet if the baby is a boy or a girl, but there are two big sisters already in the group, Guadalupe, born in 2017 and Blinky, born in 2020. The new baby has been nibbling at fruit and veg and is becoming more active around the recently upgraded Spider monkey enclosure.”

The Columbian black spider monkey is a sub-species and is native to Columbia and Panama and has a black body, long limbs and an extremely flexible tail with a hairless tip for gripping that, like a human fingerprint, is unique to each animal.

The Black Spider Monkey is the largest New World monkey and is found in humid forests up to 2,500 metres above sea level. It’s also an arboreal species, spending its time up high in the canopy. It eats a diet mainly of fruit, though it also consumes leaves for protein and has a pot-bellied appearance because of its large stomach.

Fota Wildlife Park, part of the Zoological Society of Ireland, is located on 100 acres at Fota Island, 10km east of Cork City. Fota Wildlife Park is a conservation charity and has an annual attendance of over 475,000 visitors, making it one of Ireland’s top visitor attractions. Name suggestions and to be in with a chance of winning a Conservation Annual Pass are through a form below, please. Or via this link: www.surveymonkey.com/r/X67M6ZN

All visitors looking to visit the new spider monkey baby will need to pre-book their ticket in advance on www.fotawildlife.ie

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Image credits: Darragh Kane