Conservationists at Chester Zoo have become the first in Europe to welcome their very own tiny dancer - as they have successfully bred a rare Coquerel’s sifaka lemur.
Sifaka are distinguishable from other lemurs because of the unique way that they move. They maintain an upright posture and, using only their back legs, spring side to side along the floor and leap more than 20ft through the treetops in a single bound this unusual motion has seen them nicknamed ‘dancing lemurs’.
The precious youngster arrived to parents Beatrice (10) and Elliot (10)... 18 months after the duo were translocated from the USA to Chester Zoo to begin a vital new conservation breeding programme designed to protect the critically endangered primates from extinction. Born with a thick fuzzy white coat and weighing just 119 grams, experts say the baby will cling tightly to mum’s belly for several weeks before riding on her back like a backpack until around six months old.
Keepers will determine the sex of the tiny dancing primate once it starts to branch away and explore on its own. Currently only seven of the rare primates are cared for in three zoos in Europe and the family trio at Chester are the only Coquerel’s sifaka to live in the UK.
Conservationists at the zoo say the birth is a ‘landmark moment’ for the species that is on the brink of extinction in the wild. Like all lemurs, the species is unique to the East African island of Madagascar - hence the threat of extinction when they lose habitat.