As zookeepers, we shouldn’t have favourites, but sometimes we can’t help it! So, when I asked the team if they had a favourite, some struggled and some knew their answers straight away! So for today’s blog, I thought I would introduce you to some of the more unique favourite animals on the section!
Savannah chose our new arrivals, the capuchin monkeys! The new primates on the block, our three white-throated capuchins have stolen hearts and I’ve had a lot of requests from the team to take on their training because these guys are super smart! Zaito, the male and dad to baby Carlos, is super sassy and looks adorable with his snaggle tooth. We are all very excited to see how their personalities develop as they settle more into life here at Wingham!
Faith decided that the bushbabies were her favourite, specifically our new babies. “They are so cute, fluffy and round!” For anyone that doesn’t know Faith, she loves all the round, squishy animals! Faith has worked exceptionally hard to build up the confidence of our bushbabies and now both groups are scale trained, a difficult job in the darkness of the Nocturnal House.
I think as long as Callum has worked at Wingham, he has loved the night monkeys! Arguably the most underrated species on the section and not known by a lot of people, they are also incredibly intelligent as shown by now being scale trained by Callum himself.
Sarah chose a very specific individual rather than a species when I asked her. She chose Vera, one of our beautiful gibbons. “She is an absolute angel. Fact,” were in fact Sarah’s words at 15:16pm! Not 2 hours after writing Sarah’s answer, she changed her mind because Vera was in fact, not an angel, during her scale training session!
Jess L picked her “bestest boys!” Ronnie and Reggie the colobus monkeys. These two have come so far over the last few years. Again, like the night monkeys, they are quite an underrated species and often overlooked because of their grumpy faces.
Henry’s answer was of no surprise to me when he picked our pygmy marmosets. He isn’t biased, but he spends a lot of time training them and has worked incredibly hard to help them grow in confidence.
Shockingly, I actually didn’t pick a primate species! Everyone knows that the mandrills and Goeldi’s monkeys have a special place in my heart, but equally the agoutis have also captured it. These two boys are settling in well and I cannot wait till their new outside area is ready for them to explore.
Dani also chose a very specific individual, Olive the mandrill. She is such a sweetie, super calm and an absolute angel on the scales. Dani and Olive have developed an understanding of trust and considering she is the lowest ranking individual in the troop, she needs some extra love for sure!
Marta took the longest to decide what her favourite species was on section but eventually chose the squirrel monkeys because of their mischievous, energetic and intelligent nature. These guys have the largest brain to body mass ratio.
By Holly, Head of Primates
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