29/10/2010
A pair of the world’s smallest primates have given birth to a tiny baby monkey at Wellington Zoo.
The two pygmy marmosets, Machu and Picchu, were found with the newborn in their enclosure at the zoo’s cafe this morning.
Pygmy marmosets are the world’s smallest specie of monkey, weighing around 130 grams and measuring 15 centimetres long.
Zoo spokesman Matt Kennard said the baby (its sex was not yet known) and its mother Picchu seemed healthy.
"We’ve already seen Picchu jumping around the enclosure with the baby hanging on,” he said.
“We’re not going to interfere too much, just let nature take its course.”
Kennard said zoo staff were very excited, and keepers kept popping down to the cafe every few minutes to take a look.
"It’s the first baby we’ve had since we got Macchu and Picchu,” he said.
Pygmy marmosets have relatively large babies for their tiny size, weighing about 14 grams at birth.
In the wild, they are mainly found in Brazil, Ecuador and Peru.
Machu and Picchu are the only ones in New Zealand, after arriving from England's Banham Zoo in June and moving into their enclosure on August 7 2009.
