Three newborn Japanese macaque babies are putting on quite the show at Highland Wildlife Park, Kingussie.
Despite being small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, the trio are quite bold and inquisitive.
Mother Angara gave birth to a male baby named Fumio on May 17, Mang gave birth to a female named Fuji on 18 May and Djangal gave birth to an as yet unsexed baby on 14 June.
The two earlier babies were recently sexed by their keepers and given Japanese names. Each year macaque babies are given names starting with the same letter. This year is the turn of the letter F.
Fumio means scholarly child and Fuji is after the well-known Japanese volcano.
All three mothers are taking excellent care of their offspring.
Douglas Richardson, head of living collections for the Highland Wildlife Park, said: “This is Angara, our dominant female’s third baby in three years, so she definitely has her hands full caring for her young and keeping order within the troupe! Macaque infants do not reach maturity until around five years of age, but Angara can expect some help from her older offspring in looking after her newest baby.
“As we carry-out one of the feeds near the enclosure windows, the mothers and their babies are usually very easy to spot; look out for a little dark arm reaching out from the mother as the babies test the various food items. As they get a little more confident, the little ones start to explore, but mum stays close by and will scoop them up if certain members of the troupe get too close.”
The Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) is a monkey species that is native to Japan. Sometimes known as the snow monkey, they tend to live in areas that spend a few months of each year under snow – so the Scottish Highlands is perfect for this species. Other than humans, the Japanese macaque is the most northern-living primate.
Including the three new arrivals, the Highland Wildlife Park has 24 snow monkeys in its troupe and they are so popular they even have their own web cam
http://www.highlandwildlifepark.org.uk/snow-monkey-webcam