Baby Monkey Born at Buttonwood Park Zoo

The Goeldi’s monkey family at Buttonwood Park Zoo has grown again. Ava, age 6, gave birth to the new offspring on August 9. This marks the second birth this year for mom, Ava; Lenny, now 6 months was born on February 23. Ava and dad, Nick, age 14, arrived at the Zoo in the summer of 2017 from the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois accompanied by their three offspring: Santana (male), now 3, Bowie (male) 2 ½ and Rain (female) 2 years old. The Goeldi’s monkey is a small, South American primate indigenous to the upper Amazon River basin region of Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, and Colombia.

The Goeldi’s family were the first inhabitants of the newly opened outdoor habitat of Rainforests, Rivers & Reefs. The various species who call Rainforests, Rivers & Reefs home will rotate through the new outdoor habitat.

According to animal care staff, the gender of the new baby is still undetermined. It is common for baby Goeldi’s to be cared for by the entire family, according to Zookeeper Jessica Martinho, “the baby has been on Ava this whole time, but should start transferring to dad, on and off, within the next few days.” Martinho went on to say that the siblings will begin to help out in the coming weeks.

The gestation period for female Goeldi’s monkey lasts for approximately 150 days with the mother carrying a single baby per pregnancy. Zoo Director, Keith Lovett says, “[T]he Zoo is very proud with the success of Rainforests, Rivers & Reefs (RR&R), not only in terms of the Zoo guest experience, but also in regard to how significantly the animals are thriving in their naturalistic habitats.”  This marks the second species and third overall birth of a monkey in RR&R in the last year.

Lovett shared that once the gender of the newest member of the Goeldi’s family is determined they will invite the community to help name the newest edition to the Zoo’s family.