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Chester Zoo shares adorable video of new rare baby chimpanzee that’s just been born
Welcome to the world, little one.
Emily Sergeant -
7th February 2024 
A rare baby chimpanzee has just been born at Chester Zoo, and there’s no denying he’s really flipping cute.
Conservationists at the UK’s largest charity zoo are quite-rightly celebrating their newest arrival, and have shared some seriously-adorable footage of the new baby bonding with his mother as he makes his way around his new home.
The new male infant arrived to mum Alice in front of astonished zoo visitors following an eight-month pregnancy.
Newly-released images and video of the tiny newborn – who is yet to be given a name, as far as we know – show him being carefully cuddled and cradled by his mum and some of the other female relatives in the zoo’s 21-strong group.
In case you didn’t know, the chimpanzees at Chester Zoo are part of an international conservation breeding programme.
The breeding programme sees a bunch of different European zoos working together and using the latest scientific technologies to determine the genetic makeup of each chimpanzee, all in a bid to create a safety-net population to help prevent the primates from disappearing altogether.
Human-related activities, such as the illegal wildlife trade and poaching, have severely impacted chimpanzee populations in many parts of Africa, and on top of this, deforestation driven by agricultural expansion and logging has also significantly reduced their natural habitats into smaller and more-fragmented territories.
Mike Jordan, who is the Animal & Plant Director at Chester Zoo, says a new birth “always sparks some real excitement” within the chimpanzee group.
Giving an insight into the new baby chimpanzee’s first few days on earth, and explaining just what makes his birth so important to the species, Mike said: “While Alice and her new baby are certainly centre of attention among the other chimpanzees, they’re still finding some quiet time to get to know one another and can often be seen cuddled up together.
“What’s also great to see is that some of the others in the group, especially the younger females, are really intrigued by the new baby and are learning all about motherhood from Alice.
“This is an important learning curve for them and this experience can be really useful for when they hopefully go on to have babies of their own.
“A thriving conservation breeding programme is key to the long-term protection of these animals.
“For nearly 30 years, our teams have worked on the ground in Uganda, Nigeria, and Gabon in Africa, working hand-in-hand with wildlife authorities, in-country partners, and local communities in an effort protect some of the world’s rarest wild chimpanzee populations and their forest homes.
Read more:
- Chester Zoo pays tribute after beloved Bornean orangutan Martha dies aged 59
- A critically endangered ‘dancing lemur’ has been born at Chester Zoo
- Chester Zoo shares adorable video of baby penguins taking their first swimming lessons
“These collective efforts, paired with the conservation breeding programme in zoos, gives us hope that we can create a future where chimpanzees thrive long into the future.”
Featured Image – Chester Zoo
