{"id":218583,"date":"2025-12-30T19:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T19:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/218583\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T19:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T19:33:09","slug":"fota-wildlife-park-invites-public-to-help-name-new-black-and-white-colobus-baby-monkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/218583\/","title":{"rendered":"Fota Wildlife Park invites public to help name new black-and-white colobus baby monkey"},"content":{"rendered":"

The park has announced the birth of the newest member of its colobus monkey family, Colobus guereza, which can be seen at the shared colobus and meerkat habitat.<\/p>\n

The new arrival was born on October 30 to parents Freya and Juggs and has one older sister, Frida, born on August 8 last year, who has already been spotted \u201cbabysitting\u201d her younger sibling.<\/p>\n

Mother Freya, born in December 2017, arrived at Fota Wildlife Park in January 2022 from La Palmyre Zoo in France.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, father Juggs, born in November 2007, has been a resident at Fota since June 2011, having transferred from Belfast Zoo as part of a European breeding programme.<\/p>\n

\"Black-and-white<\/p>\n

Black-and-white colobus baby monkey born at Fota Wildlife Park on 30 October 2025 to mother Freya and father Juggs. Photo: Sin\u00e9ad Donnachie, Fota Wildlife Park.<\/p>\n

\"Black-and-white<\/p>\n

Black-and-white colobus baby monkey born at Fota Wildlife Park on 30 October 2025 to mother Freya and father Juggs. Photo: Sin\u00e9ad Donnachie, Fota Wildlife Park.<\/p>\n

While the baby is becoming increasingly active and mobile in recent weeks, it still sports the distinctive white infant coat, which will gradually develop into the species\u2019 black and white colouring as it matures.<\/p>\n

The black-and-white colobus monkeys are native to the forests of Central Africa and are known for their striking black and white fur and long, flowing tails.<\/p>\n

The species has been hunted for centuries because of its unique coat, and is also threatened by agricultural developments and timber production within its native habitats.<\/p>\n

\"Black-and-white<\/p>\n

Black-and-white colobus baby monkey born at Fota Wildlife Park on 30 October 2025 to mother Freya and father Juggs. Photo: Sin\u00e9ad Donnachie, Fota Wildlife Park.<\/p>\n

\"Black-and-white<\/p>\n

Black-and-white colobus baby monkey born at Fota Wildlife Park on 30 October 2025 to mother Freya and father Juggs. Photo: Sin\u00e9ad Donnachie, Fota Wildlife Park.<\/p>\n

Teresa Power, the lead ranger, said the arrival of the young colobus has been \u201cmet with great excitement\u201d, adding that its gender is not yet known.<\/p>\n

“The baby\u2019s white, curly coat will slowly darken into the striking black-and-white coat for which the species is known over the next few weeks and months,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe arrival of this baby colobus is a powerful reminder that life continues behind the scenes, even while our gates were closed to the public for ten weeks between October 14 and December 20.<\/p>\n

“Throughout that time, our dedicated teams continued to provide world-class animal care and deliver critical conservation work every single day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe birth underscores the significant survival challenges facing primates, the vital role of species breeding programmes, which are cooperative enterprises between many zoos and wildlife parks in Europe and the UK and also the wide-ranging conservation initiatives carried out at Fota Wildlife Park,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"Black-and-white<\/p>\n

Black-and-white colobus baby monkey born at Fota Wildlife Park on 30 October 2025 to mother Freya and father Juggs. Photo: Sin\u00e9ad Donnachie, Fota Wildlife Park.<\/p>\n

The park has now invited the public to help choose a name for the newest member of the colobus family.<\/p>\n

A name suggestion with a relevant meaning or link to the species can be submitted through the online form at Fota Wildlife Park\u2019s website, with a chance of winning a year-long conservation pass to the park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The park has announced the birth of the newest member of its colobus monkey family, Colobus guereza, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2540,61,60,82,263],"class_list":["post-218583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-adrianna-wrona","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}