Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens welcomes a new member to the family

JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens welcomes a new infant Coquerel’s sifaka!

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Aemilia and Gulliver are parents again! For the second time ever at the Zoo, an infant Coquerel’s sifaka has been born. The family takes turns holding the infant, including Emmett, the one-year-old. Sifakas have a lower survival rate for the first few days after birth, but this little one is doing well as the group continues to bond behind-the-scenes.

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The zoo says that Sifakas hold their infant horizontally low on the abdomen like a belt and crawl up to nurse. Other lemur species will carry young high on the chest or on their back when they are first born.

Coquerel’s sifakas are critically endangered, and there are only about 50 living at 11 AZA-accredited zoos in the US, making every birth instrumental to the species’ survival.

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