There has been yet another new arrival in our mantled guereza group, with a healthy female born on April 2, Easter Sunday, after 170 days of gestation. While immensely happy for her, we are very sad to announce the loss of her mother a couple days after the birth. Luckily, however, expert keepers were quick to take over parental roles and now rear Teodózia, as the little one has been named by them, behind the scenes, feeding and burping her every 2.5 to 3 hours and regularly cleaning her, much like they would a human infant. Mantled guerezas tend to get their first taste of solid food at 4 to 6 weeks of age, so Teodózia will soon get to try browse as well as a variety of vegetables. She has grown steadily from the very beginning, currently at 1.5 times her birth weight of around 500 grams.
Most importantly, we aim to reintroduce her to the rest of the group as soon as possible so, in order to ensure proper socialization with conspecifics, her foster parents maintain minimal human contact with her and have already started introducing her to the others, including her father and siblings, via visual contact. Reactions from the group have so far been promising, especially instances of the species’ iconic call that signals recognition.
Reared behind the scenes for now, little Teodózia is hoped to join the group in their enclosure where you will soon get to check them all out. Until then, although she is in excellent hands, she would be even happier if you could support her welfare with symbolic adoption as a zoo foster parent. For more info, please visit:
We have also joined a nationwide phone recycling campaign, titled “Pass It Back, Bro,” launched by the Hungarian sub-organization of the Jane Goodall Institute in order to help protect habitats in the Congo Basin, home to multiple threatened primates including mantled guerezas, by recycling materials from old phones. So, if you want to help conserve Teodózia’s wild cousins, just drop off your unwanted phones at the bring point by the main entrance on your visit.
More pics at:
Debrecen Zoo and Amusement Park
