Dublin Zoo welcomes the birth of adorable white-naped mangabey baby

The zoo is holding a special offer on tickets to celebrate their new bundle of joy.

Dublin Zoo is delighted to announce the birth of a white-naped mangabey to its troop, which is a species of Old World monkey in the subfamily Cercopithecinae.

The baby, born on Tuesday September 26th, is the eighth child of mother Monifa and father Danso. The infant, who is still too young to determine the sex, weighs about 400g.

In celebration of their new arrival, Dublin Zoo is offering visitors a 50% ticket discount on Saturday October 14th and Sunday October 15th. This offer is only applicable to full price tickets booked online for this Saturday and Sunday, and as such excludes student, senior citizen, additional needs tickets, and group bookings.

Visitors will possibly catch a glimpse of the yet-to-be-named infant, who joins the other white-naped mangabeys at the Dublin Zoo African Plains.

The family of white-naped mangabeys inhabit a large island in Dublin Zoo, very similar to their natural habitat in the wild. With plenty of tree cover and ground space, the troop can be seen foraging for food on the forest floor and in the heights of the trees. They have a diverse diet, enabled by strong jaws and large teeth that allow them to eat hard nuts, fruit, seeds and insects.

[caption id="attachment_160529" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Patrick Bolger Photography[/caption]  

Dublin Zoo takes part in the European Endangered Species Programme for the white-naped mangabeys; the species is listed as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to deforestation, as well as being hunted for food.

Their population is restricted in the wild to densely forested pockets in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. Dublin Zoo has supported the West African Primate Conservation Action since it was established in 2001 to work with indigenous communities and governments to help protect the most vulnerable species in the region, including the white-naped mangabey.

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