‘Momentous occasion’ as Fota Wildlife Park welcome birth of five endangered lemur babies as they issue major appeal | XO3J495 | 2024-05-05 00:08:01
'Momentous occasion' as Fota Wildlife Park welcome birth of five endangered lemur babies as they issue major appeal | XO3J495 | 2024-05-05 00:08:01
AN IRISH wildlife park has welcomed five new members to their family.
Five baby Ring-Tailed Lemurs were born at Fota Wildlife Park in Cork – and bosses are now asking for the public's help to name them.
The species is native to Madagascar and commonly know due to the popularity of the character King Julien in the hit Madagascar films.
The Ring Tail Lemur is an endangered species with a 95 per cent reduction in the wild since 1990.
It's estimated there are only 3,000 of the little things left in the wild.
The birth of the five new babies brings Fota's Ring Tail Lemur population up to 14.
The babies were born to mothers Quinta, Aqua, Brida, and Dolly and father Merlot throughout March and April.
Speaking on the new additions lead ranger Teresa Power said: "This is a momentous occasion for us.
"As a relatively new breeding group, we are thrilled to witness the successful reproduction within our lemur group. Ring-tailed lemurs are synonymous with Fota Wildlife Park, and have been present since we opened the gates over 40 years ago.
"They are a free-roaming species so they don't have a specific habitat and can go where they please around the Palm Walk Islands."
Explaining their conservation efforts further said added: "The Island of Madagascar is the only place on earth that lemurs are native to, and it's losing a staggering amount of biodiversity through human encroachment on the native landscape.
"We hope that these births will help educate the general public about the enormous threat to Madagascan biodiversity."
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> The baby lemurs have been a great source of entertainment for the public and workers at Fota.
Baby lemurs tend to ride jockey style on their mother's backs after they are about two weeks old.
Public name appeal
The wildlife park are now asking for the public's help to name the five new lemurs.
They have a submission form on their website where you can suggest a name for one of the babies.
If your name is chosen you'll win an annual pass to the park.
Winners
Five different winners will be chosen.
The park is located in on Fota Island, near Carrigtwohill in County Cork about 10km outside the city.
The park is a 100 acre not-for-profit charity and is one of Ireland's leading tourism, wildlife and conservation attractions.
Tickets to the park are available on their website starting from €14.40 for children.
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