New Plymouth's zoo is celebrating the latest addition to its capuchin monkey population but questions have been raised over the identity of the newborn's father.
Some time between sunset on Saturday and sunrise on Sunday, Brooklands Zoo's youngest capuchin monkey gave birth. Six-year-old Rita is at prime breeding age although staff were not sure she was pregnant until the birth.
As Rita came to the New Plymouth zoo from Hamilton only a little over five months ago and the gestation period for capuchins can be five to seven months, the human staff are assuming the father is from the Waikato zoo.
In the monkey enclosure, it's Crumpy the dominant male who reckons he's the dad.
Zoo acting technical officer Eve Cozzi says that is highly unlikely. Quite aside from the issue of timing, poor Crumpy has had the dreaded "op".
"He is pretty protective of his troupe so he will look after Rita. As far as he is concerned, he thinks the baby is his."
Whoever is responsible for the baby is beside the point. Although Rita is looking after the baby now, in time all the monkeys will take their turn bringing up the young'un.
"We haven't be able to ascertain whether it is male or female yet but we are pleased with the birth. That is the reason we exchanged monkeys with Hamilton, to get them breeding, so this is a very good start."
Meanwhile, visitors hoping to get a glimpse of the ring-tailed lemurs Sarah and Manera will have to wait a couple of months.
The feisty young ladies had a bit of a domestic and have been isolated while Sarah recovers from a snapped Achilles and Manera thinks about what she has done.
