NEW Zoo of Brown County, WI

Unexpected Baby Snow Monkey

Meet Seiichi - New Baby Snow Monkey

While children were searching for eggs during the Eggstravaganzoo Easter event at the NEW Zoo on the morning of April 23rd, Zookeepers found a surprise of their own – an unexpected baby monkey! Curator of Animals Carmen Murach states “We’ve been watching the monkeys closely because we are expecting 2 of the females to give birth soon. Although the Species Survival Program for snow monkeys would like to see 6 of our females reproduce, we plan to space the youngsters out a bit”. Murach adds: “Family planning for snow monkeys involves birth control implants similar to those sometimes used in people. Birth control is not, however, 100% effective! Of course, we don’t mind surprises when they are as adorable as this little guy!”

Seiichi (say-chee), which means “sincere one” in Japanese

The infant male monkey has been named Seiichi (say-chee), which means “sincere one” in Japanese. He is being raised by Zookeeper and experienced monkey foster mom Jessica Hutjens. Murach says “We thought Kasumi would be a great mom but we suspect the hormonal effects of the implant might have interfered with normal maternal bonding. She has always been interested in infants but just didn’t seem to consider this baby to be her responsibility”. The little monkey is just beginning to move around and play with toys and is already spending time getting to know the monkey troop. It is extremely important for Seiichi to be well versed in the ways of monkeys from the start if he is to grow up to be a well adjusted member of monkey society.

Like most infants, he spends a good portion of his day sleeping and is still too young to be on public display. Visitors lucky enough to be at the zoo when Seiichi isn’t feeling fussy may be able to catch a glimpse of Hutjens bottle feeding the new baby in the window of the Japanese Snow Monkey building at approximately 9 am and noon daily.

Published: May 7th, 2011