ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Zoo has a new resident, and boy is he cute.
The zoo announced Thursday that Teak, a black and white colobus monkey, was born on Feb. 3. Colobus monkeys are born white with a pink face. By age 6 months, the little monkey will get his adult coloration — mostly black hair but with white hair around the face and part of the tail, though adults also have a distinctive mantle of long white hair from their shoulders around the edge of their backs.
Colobus monkeys live in families with several females sharing in the care of newborns, a behavior called allomothering. Teak’s mother, Cecelia, has raised five babies of her own along with three other babies in the family, the zoo said.
Teak’s father, Kima, watches over the family and often interacts with the youngsters, the zoo said. Teak’s sister and his half-sister also interact with and help care for Teak.