Feel Good Moment of the Day

Say it with me now. Awwwwwwwww!

I just got word that Battle Creek's Binder Park Zoo welcomed this adorable baby mangabey monkey to its family on November 9. A word from the Zoo:

The red-capped mangabey is a small African primate weighing between 12 and 26 lbs, females being much smaller than males.  Their home range is in the western equatorial countries in Africa; Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, and Republic of Congo.  This arboreal species can be found foraging for fruits, nuts, tender shoots, mushrooms, ants, and flowers in troops of 14-23 animals.  Their original habitat and numbers have greatly decreased over the last two decades due to human encroachment and hunting.  Mangabeys are hunted for the commercial bushmeat trade which is heavily reducing wild populations.  It is difficult for researchers to get an accurate survey of how many are left in the wild, but they can determine that this animal that was once widespread through out its home range is now drastically disappearing from areas with heavy agricultural and hunting pressure.  Binder Park Zoo currently houses four red-capped mangabey monkeys and is only one of eight zoos in North America to exhibit this unique species

This is my favorite picture of the month, maybe the year.  He started climbing at ten days old!

High five,

-Shannon