Little Elke finds mothers

Elke with her 'adoptive mothers' - Image from LA Times

A lot of babies are rejected by parents as soon as they are born, which leads to them ending up in adoption centers. Apparently, this happens in the animal world too. But here the reason is just plain distress. Elke was born to two francois langur monkeys, a rare species, which was brought to the Taronga Zoo in Sydney in an effort to increase the numbers of the endangered species. Saigon and Hanoi, the mother and father respectively, got petrified after the birth of their baby and left it on the ground as soon as it was born. According to senior primate keeper in the zoo, Mandy McLellan, this is quite a common occurrence among primates. She says it, “just comes down to lack of experience; the first one's a bit of a shock.” Elke is now being cared for by the primate keepers who give her a bottle of formula milk every three hours.

Elke is quite a hit in the zoo with her flame-colored fur typical of infants in her species. Although francois langur monkeys are jet black, like Saigon and Hanoi, their infants typically have orange fur. Hopefully Elke will endear herself soon, ironically, to her parents too.

Watch Elke

A little more about Francois Langur monkeys