Zoo Atlanta’s new colobus baby

It’s Caroline from the Small Primate Team. You may have heard that we have a new Angolan colobus baby. This is the seventh living Angolan colobus baby born at Zoo Atlanta since 2017, and I’m excited to tell you that it’s a boy! He’s only the second male colobus born at Zoo Atlanta.

This infant is the younger sibling to three of our other colobus: Kito, Zera and Moira. With the birth of this infant, it brings our colobus group total up to 11 members, making it the largest group of Angolan colobus in North America! Colobus infants are born completely white, which makes them stand out against the adults’ black-and-white coloration, so if you come to the Zoo and the colobus are outside, you should be able to see the baby. This coloration is thought to be done to induce an alloparenting behavior, or “aunting,” which means all the females in the group help to take care of the infant. We’ve seen all the females, with the exception of our youngest, Moira, helping to take care of the baby by carrying him around. This gives younger females a wonderful opportunity to learn how to take care of infants and interact with them while giving Adanna a break. She gets the infant back for feeding.

The infant will start to change to a darker color soon, and within four to six months, will be a miniature black-and-white version of the rest of the colobus. If you come to Zoo Atlanta to see him, look for the little white monkey being passed around. Don’t be concerned about that; everyone tries to and wants to hold the baby as much as they can like good aunts and sisters. And make sure to vote for Colobus Conservation, one of our 2022 Quarters for Conservation organizations being currently supported, to help wild colobus in Kenya. Stay tuned for the announcement of his name!

(photo: Caroline S.)

Caroline S.
Keeper I, Primates