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Tangerine-colored baby monkey debuts at Oregon Zoo

Video and photos:
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_090507_animals_baby_francois_monkey_zoo_.a5662446.html

04:58 PM PDT on Wednesday, September 5, 2007

By ANTONIA GIEDWOYN, kgw.com Staff

There's a new baby at the Oregon Zoo – an exotic, tangerine-colored
monkey eliciting squeals of delight from an ever-growing crowd of
onlookers.

The healthy infant known as a Francois langur was born last weekend to
13-year-old My Linh and eight-year-old Chuy and is doing well,
according to zoo keepers.

"The birth was a surprise, but certainly not unwanted," said senior
primate keeper Dave Thomas.

With fewer than 75 of the endangered animals in North American zoos,
Francois langur births are crucial for the success of the captive
population.

There are now four Francois langurs at the zoo. Besides the family
group, the zoo also has an additional female, nine-year-old Conkhi.

"Conkhi is definitely the more dominate of the females, and tried to
reach out to the infant, but My Linh held on tightly," Thomas said.

The group is expected to remain visible to the public for the next two
weeks before moving to an off-site exhibit pending construction of the
new Red Ape Reserve exhibit, which will house orangutans and gibbons.

Francois Langurs are a medium sized primate found in northeast
Vietnam, southern portions of China and west-central Laos. They are
endangered due to human contact, poaching for medical use and
deforestation.