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Lemurs born at Wingham

00:01, 29 May 2012

updated: 14:04, 04 February 2020

Baby lemurs born at Wingham wildlife park.
Baby lemurs born at Wingham wildlife park.

These baby lemurs are causing a stir after not one, but four, came into the world in front of stunned animal park visitors.

The four baby Red Ruffed Lemurs were delivered after mum went into labour at Wingham in front of stunned onlookers.

Now they are keeping staff on their toes - needing feeds every two hours for the first week of their lives.

Now five weeks old, the foursome will join the park's other species of lemur including Black & White Ruffed, Ring Tailed and Sambirano Bamboo Lemurs.

Tony Binskin, one of the park's directors, said: “We have a lot of success at the park with our Lemur breeding programmes and have donated numerous baby Lemurs to other zoos around Europe over the past four years."

But it's no easy ride for head keeper Ruth Merrick and her staff at the Rusham Road park.

She needs to become mum for the next few months, as their real mother doesn't seem able to produce milk.

Ruth said: “If she were able to feed properly she would make an absolutely brilliant mum, and even though we try to intervene as little as we can with such animals, they are just too precious to not try our best with them.”

She said the birth of four babies was also a shock as the lemur had always given birth to just one baby before.

The youngsters are not ready to make their second appearance in front of crowds yet, due to the amount of time needed to look after them.

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