Excitement is in the air this week at Tayto Park as zookeepers announced the arrival of a baby Geoldi’s Monkey.
A first for the zoo team, the latest addition to the zoo, located in Ashbourne, Co Meath was born to parents Rue and Rocco, Tayto Park's resident Geoldi’s Monkeys.
The little one has no name yet as Tayto Park bosses said the zookeeping team are giving the first-time parents 'space to bond and adjust to their new roles'.
Geoldi’s Monkeys are a small and vulnerable primate found throughout western regions of the Amazon basin.
They are known to eat a wide variety of fruits and insects, spending most of their lives up in the tree canopy they serve the ecosystem as important seed dispersers.
This birth marks an important contribution to the conservation of Geoldi’s Monkeys as this group at Tayto Park are members of a European breeding programme (EEP), aiming towards maintaining healthy populations of these primates for the future.
Park and Zoo Manager at Tayto Park, Lee Donohoe said: “It’s been a very busy few weeks for the zoo team here at Tayto Park, along with the birth of our baby Geoldi’s Monkey, we also welcomed baby Kirana, a female Sulawesi-Crested Macaque towards the end of 2021, with baby lemurs also due in the coming weeks.
"All new arrivals and their mums are doing well and we’re looking forward to finding out the sex of our Geoldi’s Monkey soon.
"The birth of any species at the park is always exciting but even more so when they have such conservation importance."
Visitors will be able to catch a glimpse of the latest zoo arrivals as Tayto Park announce the opening of its zoo for the 2022 season with ‘Zoo Walk’ – opening this weekend, Saturday, February 26 and every weekend in March.
Home to more than 250 animals, go wild with wonder at the Tayto Park ‘Zoo Walk’, follow the discovery trail and explore over 100 species from Amur Tiger and Amur Leopard, Ring-Tailed Lemurs and Mountain Lions to an array of Birds.
