Latest furry edition to safari park's Owl Monkey family
Now that the weather has turned chilly, there's one baby at West Midland Safari Park that will be staying cosy and toasty all winter long.
Little Lottie is the newest baby Douroucouli, otherwise known as Night Monkey or Owl Monkey, to be born in Twilight Cave, which is also home to free-flying Seba's short-tailed and Rodrigues fruit bats.
Lottie is the second Douroucouli to be born at the park near Bridgnorth. Barney was the first, arriving arrived in November last year. And, just like Barney, it is quite likely that little Lottie will be seen on father's back, as Douroucouli mothers generally relinquish this role after just a few weeks.
Whilst the name Lottie is indeed more suited to a female, staff are yet to confirm whether the new youngster is in fact male or female. It was the extraordinary prettiness of the baby that prompted the more feminine term.
The temperature in Twilight Cave is set at a steady 26 to 28C. Therefore, whatever the weather is doing outdoors, the inhabitants of this all-weather exhibit located in Discovery Trail will remain positively balmy.
The Douroucouli is the world's only nocturnal monkey, from South America. They have wide eyes to help night vision, although they have no colour vision, as it would be of no benefit to them in the dark. Its genus name Aotus means 'earless' as the ears are extremely small. In the wild they live high in the tree canopy in family groups so comparatively little is known about their life style although they live up to 20 years in captivity.
