The Cincinnati Zoo announced even more baby animals Tuesday, this time in the form of lemur pups.
The zoo’s two female ring-tailed lemurs, who arrived in Cincinnati last year as part of a breeding program, gave birth within days of each other this week. Izze, 5, gave birth to a single pup on Friday afternoon. Willow, 3, produced twins late Monday.
Both lemurs are first-time moms and are doing a great job with their babies, zoo officials said.
“I was excited to hear about the newborn ring-tailed lemur,” said Bob Lessnau, who spent years working with this species in the field before coming to Cincinnati to head up the zoo’s animal division. “The stability of ring-tailed lemur populations in zoos is crucial as wild populations endure dire straits.”
Once a threatened species, ring-tailed lemurs are now classified as endangered and numbers are declining, according to the zoo.
Although widely distributed throughout the forests of southern and southwestern Madagascar, the charismatic creatures exist in only a few protected areas. They are the most easily recognizable lemur and the species most commonly encountered in zoos.