11-Day Old Lemur Is Thriving at the San Diego Zoo Natal Care Facility After Malnutrition Concern

An adorable 11-day old endangered ring-tailed lemur was recently brought to the San Diego Zoo natal care facility after staff noticed that her mother wasn’t able to provide the infant with enough nutrition. The tiny girl is now getting 24-hour care and being bottle-fed every two hours in the company of her family.

Lemurs are highly social animals, and in order to facilitate the family’s introduction process, Tweena and Matthew, the sire of the baby, were also moved to the neonatal care unit so the family unit could hear and smell each other. To provide additional bonding time between mom and daughter, Tweena is allowed to groom and lick her baby through the wire mesh of her enclosure. “We hope that things will go really well with the baby and as soon as she’s strong enough we will reunite the two, and Tweena will get a chance to raise her own baby,” said Janet Hawes, lead keeper for San Diego Zoo Global.