This is exactly the news we needed today.

While much of Cork is feeling delicate after the mother of all St Stephen’s Day sessions yesterday, Fota Wildlife Park has offered some heartwarming news to get us through; two baby lion-tailed macaques have been born at the park.

The last two births of the decade, the macaque babies, among the rarest and most threatened primate species in the world, were born to mothers Kelly and Lizzy and to father Mauzer.

Nine-year-old Kelly gave birth on September 26th and 17-year-old Lizzy gave birth on October 13th after a gestation period of approximately six months.

“The two new babies at Fota are settling in really well and are fussed over and protected by the whole troop, in fact it is common to see a younger female kidnap a baby for a little while to practise her mothering skills as this is how they learn.” said Teresa Power, Lead Ranger at Fota.

“Lizzy is one of our main breeding females and already has three daughters in the group while this is Kelly’s first baby.”

“The two new arrivals bring our troop of Lion-tailed macaques up to eighteen and already the babies are starting to explore their surroundings and are often gently pulled back by the tail if they stray too far from their mothers.”

The popular attraction reopens to Christmas holiday visitors today, December 27th, 2019 with last entry at 3pm.

Neither baby macaque has a name yet and Fota is calling on the public to help name them both here.