It’s a Boy; Drusillas Celebrates a new Prince of Lemurland!

As the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge delight in the arrival of their baby bundle of joy,Drusillas Park in East Sussex is also celebrating a new prince of Lemurland.

Keepers at the award-winning zoo have confirmed that their beautiful black lemur born in April is male.

The gender of a black lemur becomes evident over time due to the strong sexual dimorphism in colour within this species. Males are all black with striking orange eyes, whereas females are brown with long whitish ear tufts. After weeks of speculation there is now no doubt that the baby is a boy.

At three months old the young lemur is becoming more independent by the day and has just started to spend short amounts of time away from his mum. He has begun eating solid food, with tamarin pods being one of his favourite.

The baby has also struck up an unlikely friendship with the royally named William; a ring-tailed lemur with whom he shares an enclosure. Much like a doting Uncle, William adores the new arrival and is very protective, although always happy to play.

In the wild, black lemurs are native to the Island of Madagascar where they live in the forest regions of the North. Although they are primates, they are not considered monkeys or apes; instead they are prosimians, which means ‘before the monkey’.

Sadly, the population of black lemurs is declining in the wild mainly due to habitat destruction and hunting. Clementine and Lotfi were introduced at Drusillas as part of the European Endangered Species Programme. The new arrival is their third baby born at the Park following the birth of Tsito in April 2011 and Malala in July 2012.

Now the baby’s gender is confirmed, keepers will get on with the important business of naming the new arrival with something befitting of a young prince of Lemurland!