Protective mum Tish keeps her new lion-tailed macaque baby too close for rangers at Fota to determine its gender yet

Protective mum Tish keeps her new lion-tailed macaque baby too close for rangers at Fota to determine its gender yet

Fota Wildlife Park is celebrating a record baby boom with the arrival of its first lion-tailed macaque baby in more than four years.

The new arrival came after births of scimitar-horned oryx and bisons earlier this summer.

Co Cork's No 1 tourist attraction is now launching a special public competition to select a name for the new baby macaque.

The macaque baby was born to mother Tish and father Mauzer last week, and marks the first such birth at the east Cork wildlife park since 2014.

The lion-tailed macaque is one of the most endangered of the Asian primate species and is listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature's 'Red Data Book' of endangered creatures.

New mother Tish is 11 years old and is the dominant female in the Fota troop. It is the first baby born to new father Mauzer, who is seven and was relocated to the east Cork facility in 2015 from Belfast Zoo.

He is now the breeding male for the lion-tailed macaque troop in Fota.

Because of the protective nature of macaque mothers, the gender of the new arrival is not yet known. Lead ranger Teresa Power said they were delighted with the new arrival.

Irish Independent