- An endangered roloway monkey named Masaya at Chester Zoo has given birth to an infant, Lagertha, months after undergoing pioneering foot surgery.
- The 15-year-old monkey had a complex operation last summer to remove a golf ball-sized mass from her foot, believed to be from an old thorn injury.
- Vets from Chester Zoo collaborated with surgeons from the University of Liverpool to adapt surgical techniques for the procedure, as no prior examples existed for roloway monkeys, saving all but one of Masaya's toes.
- The successful surgery was crucial as it ensured Masaya could continue her normal behaviours, including holding her offspring, with the new infant, Lagertha, now just over four weeks old.
- This birth is significant for the conservation of roloway monkeys, with fewer than 2,000 living in the wild in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, facing threats like habitat loss and poaching.
IN FULL
Endangered monkey gives birth months after foot was saved from amputation
