Human touch for baby lemur

[OpenMind]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/3649623.stm



Human touch for baby lemur

A baby ring-tailed lemur abandoned by his mother is causing sleepless nights for a zookeeper at a west Wales attraction.

Tim Morphew is hand rearing the tiny primate who needs feeding every two hours - night and day.

Trelow was rejected at just two weeks but now has a surrogate family - Tim and a cuddly cow - at Folly Farm.

It will be more than two years before he is fully grown but Tim is already teaching him how to wash and eat.

The pair go home together at the end of each day at the Pembrokeshire tourist attraction - a routine Tim says will continue for several more months.

"I will be more worried than you could imagine when he spends his first night on his own as I'm very much like a protective father now," he said.

Trelow was born on 20 March and weighed in at just 100 grams although will eventually grow to about 2.5 kilos.

After two weeks his young mother decided she could not cope and farm staff found him on the floor in the lemur enclosure.

"Once we found him on the floor we tried to put him back but his mum was not interested," explained Tim.

"I carried him around under my jumper for the first day to keep him warm.

"Young primates grow up clinging to mum so we needed something for him to cling onto so I just chose the toy in the gift shop which was closest to lemur which was a cow.

It is the first time the keeper has hand-reared a lemur and he says he is doing " incredibly well".

"He is getting braver and braver although he was very upset when cow was taken away to be washed."

Folly Farm near Tenby is a working farm open to the public that also has more exotic animals, play areas, fun fair, museum and nature centre.

Ring-tailed lemurs are native to southern Madagascar but are becoming increasingly rare due to deforestation.

It is unlikely Trelow will be accepted back into the lemur enclosure when he is old enough to look after himself so a new home will be built.

"We don't think he will be able to go back with the original group," added Tim.

"We plan to start another even if its just him and friend.

"There are a couple of others of his age so there will not be a problem."

Copyright BBC 2006

[RedGlitter]

I like these kinds of stories. :-4 Lemurs are cute with that fluffy striped tail they have. I hope the little guy continues to do well. Thanks for posting this, OpenMind.