The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden welcomed an adorable new member to the their furry family on May 29.
Anza, a six-year-old guereza colobus monkey, gave birth to a baby whose sex has not yet been determined — right at the end of the annual Zoo Babies month.
According to the Cincinnati Zoo primate curator Ron Evans, “The baby is strong and nursed right away! Pop, Tiberius, is very gentle and protective, as always and the three big brothers, TJ, Octavius and Max, are behaving so far.”
When looking at the pictures, you may notice that the baby's hair color looks quite different from mom's (in fact, it even bears an adorably striking resemblance to Justin Timberlake's '90s ramen 'do). This is because baby colobus monkeys are born with "snowy white" coats so that they can be easily identified within the rainforest canopy. Their coat evolves to their full adult coloration at around six months, at which point they are very independent of their mothers and other adult female colobus, who look after each other's young.
“The dad, considered a senior at 25-years-old, doesn’t help with the babysitting. That’s okay, and the way it would work in the wild," says Evans in a release. "His genetic contribution is significant, and his offspring add diversity to the North American Zoo population."
According to the release, this particular monkey species' name is derived from its missing thumbs — "colobus" in latin means deformed — though the unique feature isn't a negative one.
"The lack of a thumb aids colobus in securely grabbing branches as they make dramatic 30 feet leaps from tree to tree," Evans says. Which is especially helpful when finding food, as the vegetarian monkeys munch on leaves and digest them with their three-chambered stomach.
Watch the Cincinnati Zoo's video of the baby colobus monkey below.
Visit cincinnatizoo.org for more info.