Australian zoo shows off orange baby monkey

He's about six weeks old, bright orange and very inquisitive. Taronga Zoo in Sydney have just presented the latest addition to its Francois langur monkey family, a baby male called Keo-co (pronounced Key-co). Born to mother Saigon and father Hanoi, Keo-co made his public debut by exploring his outdoor enclosure and was brave enough to move about a metre away from his mum. "He's quite inquisitive," zoo primate keeper Roxanne Pellatt said. "When the keepers are around and he's in his den he'll stick his head out and have a look."



Keo-co's bright orange fur is quite a sight but he won't retain that vibrant colour forever. "His colour will gradually start changing, starting with his extremities, his tail, his toes, the tip of his head until eventually - at about six months - he will be completely black with just a tiny bit of white on his face," Ms Pellatt said. Little Keo-co is lucky that his mother has taken to him. Just two years ago Saigon gave birth to a female langur and things didn't turn out quite so well.

"Unfortunately Saigon didn't know what it was and she was scared of the baby. The keepers had to step in and raise it," Ms Pellatt said. "We called her Elka and she lives in another enclosure now with a male we imported from Beijing, Bobo." However, Saigon had some help this time from another female langur, his aunt Meili. "The two mothers take care of him - Saigon is the primary care giver but when she needs a break Meili takes over, they take it in turns," Ms Pellat said.


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"Consequently, we have named the infant 'Keo-co' which is a traditional game of tug-of-war played in the villages of Vietnam," she said. The monkeys are native to Vietnam and China. Sydney's Taronga Zoo is the only zoo in Australia that has the species. An endangered species, there are potentially fewer than 1000 Francois langur monkeys left in the wild. "They are still hunted for bush meat and they're also used in traditional medicine," Ms Pellatt said.