Tiny Nappies For Baby Woolly Monkey

Staff at Monkey World - Ape Rescue Centre in Dorset have been donated 25 cases of premature baby nappies to help them hand-rear a tiny baby monkey.

The beneficiary of the tiny nappies is little Bueno Junior, the woolly monkey, who is currently being hand-reared by the park's Director, Dr Alison Cronin and her specialist team.

Bueno Junior is one of 18 woolly monkeys at the park in Wareham, who are part of the International Breeding Program for Endangered Species (EEP) and so was a very special arrival when he was born on 21st November.

Unfortunately Bueno's mother's labour did not progress and the tiny baby was born by emergency Caesarean section.

When Primate Care Staff tried to give mum Sara her new baby boy, once she recovered from the anaesthetic, she would not take him and so the young woolly monkey is now being hand-reared until he is ready to safely join other woolly monkeys at the park at approximately 5-months-old.

baby woolly monkey

Dr Cronin said:

"We owe Attends Healthcare Group a huge thank you for such a generous donation. Jr was born at only 430gr and therefore it was not easy to find a product to keep him clean and healthy.

"Nappies that are used in hospitals for premature babies are perfect as they are made for babies that are 500gr plus, but they are not easy to find.

"We asked for help from major companies that make the tiny nappies and luckily Attends Healthcare came though for little Bueno.

"Of course the extra special nappies require one further modification - a hole cut in for his wonderful prehensile tail to fit through!

"On his 101st day, Jr is becoming more and more active, climbing and leaping, so having some good fitting nappies is a godsend!"

It is not the first time Alison has had to step in to look after a precious newborn, she was also needed to hand-rear woolly monkeys Julio, Paulo and Diego when their mother did not feed them. However, all were successfully re-introduced back into woolly monkey groups within five months.

Monkey World encourages monkeys and apes to lead lives as close as possible to how they would in the wild. However when a mother rejects their offspring, as can happen from time to time, it is necessary for staff to step in for the baby's welfare and it is a huge achievement when they are fully reintegrated back into their group.

The adult woolly monkey groups are very kind and loving towards the returning youngsters and they still grow up enjoying life in a natural environment with others of their own kind.

The recent birth of Bueno is particularly special for Monkey World because woolly monkeys are highly endangered in the wild and are also facing extinction in captivity with only 37 remaining in the International Breeding Program.

Bueno Jr is an extremely rare monkey! Woolly monkeys are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, as females are prone to high blood pressure, or pre-eclampsia, during pregnancy.

Monkey World is the only place in he world where numbers are increasing with three healthy breeding groups.

For more information about visiting Monkey World please go to www.monkeyworld.org.