Twycross Zoo: Baby Bili goes to Frankfurt (From Worcester News)

Twycross Zoo: Baby Bili goes to Frankfurt

8:05am Tuesday 27th January 2009 in News

Twycross Zoo has the only collection of bonobos in the United Kingdom and on 8th October 2008, Maringa gave birth to a beautiful tiny 1.6 kilo male bonobo baby. Although in the early weeks the youngster was unwell and needed extensive nursing and medical care, which involved a MRI scan, there are great expectations for the baby as he will be travelling to Frankfurt Zoo shortly to meet a new bonobo foster family.

Keepers at Twycross Zoo decided to name the baby “Bili” after a river in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the species originates from.

Frankfurt Zoo keepers will play a vital part helping to rear Bili, as well as the bonobo collection that will play and interact with him, helping Bili to develop as he becomes part of their social group. Keepers at Frankfurt have trained a female bonobo to assist with hand rearing babies. Bili will be a part of the group and the female will hand the baby to the keeper so the keeper is able to feed and monitor him.

Bonobos are our closest living relative as they have 99.6 % similar DNA to humans. These apes are under threat every day from hunters and habitat destruction hence they are extremely endangered. The bonobos at Twycross are the only ones in the UK and are part of an international breeding program. In the spring of 2008 Twycross Zoo’s Director Suzanne Boardman and Conservation Officer Claire Pipe visited Lola Ya Bonobo, the only bonobo sanctuary in the world, to find out how Twycross Zoo could make a difference to bonobo conservation in the wild.

Twycross Zoo has pledged to help to secure the future of the bonobo in the wild by 2020. They will also contribute to the work of Lola Ya Bonobo, by assisting with the project in the wild and raising as much public awareness as possible – all through a new programme “BONOBO”!