ST. LOUIS – There’s a new member of the Saint Louis Zoo!
Princess Buttercup, is a mongoose lemur that was born at the zoo on March 19. She can be seen by visitors as she plays with her mom, Dahila and her dad, Snuffy at the primate house.
Princess Buttercup’s first few months started off rocky and required round-the-clock care and feeding by the primate care staff, but the zoo says she’s a healthy and energetic baby now.
Dahila has previously been unsuccessful in raising her infants, so when this pregnancy was confirmed, primate keepers consulted with numerous colleagues and conservation organizations with extensive lemur experience for advice.
“We are all thrilled that Princess Buttercup is thriving and that we were able to assist Dahlia in raising her baby,” said Mylisa Whipple, one of the primate unit keepers who was instrumental in preparing the birth plan. “It’s an exhausting process to raise a child – any parent can attest to this – but every mongoose lemur birth is extremely important for this endangered species and we wanted to do the absolute best for her. It’s an amazing feeling to see her doing so well after such a tough start.”
Princess Buttercup’s birth is part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums mongoose lemur species survival plan, which is a program to manage a genetically healthy population of mongoose lemurs in North American zoos.
According to the Saint Louis Zoo, the mongoose lemur is a critically endangered species native to the dry forests of northwestern Madagascar, where it searches for its diet of nectar, fruit, flowers and leaves. The small lemur weighs only 3 to 4 pounds as an adult. Like many other lemurs, the mongoose lemur is in danger of extinction in the wild, due to continued habitat loss, as their forest homes are logged for timber and turned into farmland.
