A double birth day!
We’ve got some exciting news to share about our geladas, with two babies born on the same day to different mums, but sharing the same dad!
Tana gave birth to her second boy in the early hours of October 15, while a short while later Addis welcomed her first girl, surprising keepers who discovered them both at breakfast time!
Lower Primates Section Leader Jodie Dryden said: “It was a total shock for the team. We knew both females were pregnant, but were not expecting the babies to arrive on the same day.
“We believe Tana gave birth first, as the boy was a lot drier than the girl when we found them.”
Keepers have named the male, Kaleb, while the female is Zala – two names with links to Ethiopia, their native homeland.
Jodie added: “Our mums are very experienced as both new arrivals are their fourth offspring, so they’re coping fine with motherhood.
“And the babies, who are now almost a month-old are doing really well, in fact, we can’t believe how advanced they are as they’re already starting to venture off from their mums.
“Perhaps it’s because there are two of them and they’re causing mischief together, but we’ve never seen babies as confident and wanting to play with their siblings like these pair.”
Dad to all our youngsters is 16-year-old Ebano.
The two new arrivals bring our total on-site gelada numbers to 14, with 11 members of our family group on the lower part of the bank and our three oldest bachelor boys further up the hill.
