Spider Monkey baby born

Keepers at Taronga Western Plains Zoo were delighted by the birth of a Spider Monkey baby on 24 February 2019 to first time mother Havana.

Havana has been displaying all the right maternal behaviours to date, caring for and nursing her baby and ensuring some of the other members of the group don’t come too close. 

The baby is yet to be named as it has been keeping its gender under wraps. It stays close to mum’s tummy and doesn’t reveal much, making it difficult for keepers to determine if it is a male or female.

This is the fourth baby born to the group over the past 18 months with male Pedro siring all four.
The most recent new arrival is a little difficult to see at present but if you look closely you can see it clinging to its mother’s tummy. A great time to see the Spider Monkeys is at the 12:50pm keeper feed.

Over the coming months the baby will grow and develop in confidence. It will start looking around more and reaching out to try and grab items from the security of mum’s tummy.

Keepers are looking forward to watching all four babies grow up together and begin interacting with each other, especially the older juveniles with the more recent arrivals.