'Baby Boom': Perth Zoo Welcomes Births of Spider Monkeys and Tree Kangaroo

Perth Zoo in Western Australia says it experienced a “baby boom” this winter, having welcomed two Bolivian squirrel monkey babies and a Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo joey in the space of a few months.

This video from the zoo shows the two baby monkeys, who were born to mothers Sue and Vivo, and a female joey who is soon to be named.

Sue and Vivo were doing well, helped by the other females in the group, said Primate Keeper Mel Mirville.

“The moms are doing really well, they’ve taken to motherhood really, really quickly, we’ve seen the babies latching and suckling, we’ve seen them holding on really tight,” Mirville said.

“It’s also really special because in the social groups of squirrel monkeys the mothers will share the care of the young, so we can see this ‘aunting’ behavior that’s really important for the female social dynamic, so it’s really exciting to see how they develop into those roles as well,” she added.

The baby spider monkeys were on display to the public in the zoo’s Amazonia habitat.

As for the Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo joey, the zoo said she was doing well, gradually growing and even trying solid foods.

The public will soon be able to vote to name the joey, with names Winbe, Muku, and Sumil suggested by the Tenkile Conservation Alliance (TCA).

The names all represent villages in Papua New Guinea, the home of the Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo and a location where TCA does important conservation work, the zoo said. Credit: Perth Zoo via Storyful

Video transcript

This is it early on

MEL MIRVILLE: So it's very exciting. We have really exciting news that we have two new squirrel monkey babies, two females, Sue and Vivo.

The moms are doing really well. They've taken to motherhood really, really quickly. They've been-- we've seen the babies latching and suckling. We've seen them holding on really tight.

It's also really special because in these social groups of squirrel monkeys, the mothers will actually-- the females will share the care of the young. So we can see this aunting behavior. That's really important for the female social dynamics. So it's really going to be exciting to see how they kind of develop into those roles as well.

These babies are very, very cute. They're growing really, really fast, so we suggest getting in as soon as possible to see them when they're still little and cute-- they always are cute but when they're still really small. They are on display, so if you head down to the Amazonian area, you'll be able to see them right when you walk in with their moms on the back.