Twycross Zoo celebrates the arrival of three new babies

Twycross Zoo has announced the arrival of three new babies, who were all born within the same week.

The Leicestershire zoo welcomed a Diana monkey and a Dusky leaf monkey, both of which are classed as endangered on the IUCN Red List, as well as another very cute Kirk's Dik-Dik.

Neil Dorman, Curator of Twycross Zoo, said: "In what has been a such a challenging year, the arrival of these three species are just another reminder of why we do what we do."

"We have such an amazing team here who work tirelessly in order to help us continue our award-winning conservation work, but this year, in particular, we have to say our biggest thank you ever to our wonderful customers and the public for supporting our charity in 2020." 

The two new monkeys are both classed as endangered with numbers dramatically decreasing in the wild. 

Dusky leaf monkeys are old world monkeys, a term describing monkeys from Africa and Asia. They have large white coloured circles around their eyes which give an appearance of a spectacle, and this is where they got their second name, the Spectacled Langur. 

Diana monkeys, also known as Diana guenons, have distinct markings with a white brow, cheeks, beard and front with diagonal stripes across the rear legs. The rest of the fur is a grey-black colour with a red rump and thighs. They have a long slender tail reaching lengths of up to 75cm. They are named after the Roman goddess Diana as their crescent-shaped brow markings are said to resemble the bow Diana carried.

The third arrival is the second Kirk's Dik Dik to be born at the zoo this year following the arrival of George, named after George Eliot Hospital during lockdown in homage to the keyworkers.