Extremely rare and extremely adorable.
Chester Zoo in Cheshire, England, welcomed the birth of a western chimpanzee, the most endangered chimpanzee subspecies.
The zoo announced the baby’s birth in a Thursday news release. The little one, born to mother ZeeZee, will join a herd of 22 Western chimpanzees at the British Zoo.
“We are incredibly proud to see a precious new baby in the chimpanzee herd,” Andrew Lenihan, team manager for the zoo’s primate section, said in the statement. “Mama ZeeZee and her newcomer bonded instantly and she has been doing a great job cradling him closely and taking care of him.”
Lenihan said the baby is already being quickly accepted by his extended family.
“A birth always creates a lot of excitement in the group and raising a child soon becomes a real family affair,” Lenihan continued. “You’ll often see the new baby being passed around by other women who want to lend a hand and give ZeeZee a well-deserved rest, and that’s exactly what her daughter, Stevie, is doing with her new brother. It looks like she’s fallen in love of him, which is cool to see.”
Furthermore, the tiny baby is an essential asset to the critically endangered population.
“He may not know it, but ZeeZee’s new baby is a small but vital boost to the global western chimpanzee population, at a time when it is most needed for this critically endangered species,” Lenihan added.
Following a decades-long tradition, the Chester Zoo newborn will be named after a famous rock star, according to the news release.
The western chimpanzee is the only chimpanzee subspecies to be classified as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, indicating that they face “extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.” The species is extinct in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Togo, but still lives in some parts of West Africa, with the largest population found in Guinea.
The subspecies has faced an 80% population decline in the past 25 years, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Ape numbers have plummeted due to habitat destruction, poaching, and disease.
The CNN Wire
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