Baby monkey born by rare Caesarean at Paignton Zoo

A baby monkey has been delivered in a rare Caesarean-section after her mother fell ill at Paignton Zoo.

The operation took place last night after keepers became concerned the mother would not be able to deliver her youngster on her own.

The king colobus monkey and her mother are now being cared for around-the-clock.

Paignton Zoo vet Jo Reynard performed the operation. She said:

Although the procedure is rare it wasn't the first time it had been carried out at Paignton Zoo.

Ghislaine Sayers, Head of Veterinary Services, explained:

The surgery took 40 minutes in total but it took six hours for Ivy to come around from the anaesthetic.

The baby was born after about 20 minutes with the rest of the time spent carefully sewing Ivy up and giving her fluids and pain relief to make sure she came round as comfortably as possible.

It’s hoped that the youngster will be accepted into the group when she is more mobile, but for the time being she’s dependent on a team of zoo keeper foster parents – which has meant some long days – and nights.

Craig Gilchrist, Head Keeper of Mammals, explained:

We’ve been feeding her around the clock. At first it was every two hours, including through the night but now it’s every three hours, switching to every four hours through the night.

She weighed a healthy 567g at birth and was very strong. For the time being she is living in a mobile incubator unit – in which keepers take her home at night - and feeding on baby milk formula through a syringe until she is able to suckle on a bottle.

Six keepers are sharing the extra workload.