Two critically endangered lemurs born at Scottish safari park
The twin girls, named Nova and Evie, are the third litter to be born at the park.
A Scottish safari park has announced the birth of two female lemur pups native to Madagascar.
Nova and Evie, who are living at Blair Drummond Safari and Adventure Park, were born on April 14 – and the park has now announced their birth publicly.
The six-week-old black-and-white ruffled lemurs are among as few as 1,000 remaining in the wild, with the species considered critically endangered.
Their loud cry makes them more susceptible to capture for the illegal pet trade, and additional threats include hunting by locals and habitat destruction due to deforestation, logging and mining.
Blair Drummond participates in the European Endangered Species Breeding Programme in order to build the population of animals such as the lemurs.
The park also collaborates with conservation project Feedback Madagascar, which focuses on educating communities and protecting lemurs in their natural habitat.
Eventually, the pups will join the other lemurs at the park’s Lemur Land.
The twin sisters will eventually be rehomed as part of the breeding programme.
Keeper Lesley Rodger said: “We are overjoyed to welcome these two new arrivals to our lemur conspiracy.
“Both pups are female and based on our past experience, girls do tend to be more of a handful.
“We have named them Nova, meaning ‘new’ and Evie meaning ‘life’.”
