Brand new baby lemurs say 'hello' at Chester Zoo

Image source, Chester Zoo

Chester Zoo has just welcomed a very cute addition to its animal family!

A pair of Madagascan ring-tailed lemurs were born to to parents Fiona and Dog after a 135-day-long pregnancy.

The twin mammals are only 15 centimetres tall and each weighs just a few hundred grams.

"Wonderfully, youngsters are born just like miniature adults and already have all of their fur markings, including their iconic black and white tails which they use to help identify one another," said Mike Jordan, the zoo's director of animals and plant collections.

"At the moment they're staying close to mum but it'll only be a matter of weeks before they start to branch out and climb independently."

Image source, Chester Zoo

Lemurs are listed as endangered animals by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and their numbers have dropped significantly on the African island of Madagascar where they come from.

The birth of the lemurs at Chester Zoo is great news for the lemur population.

However, the zookeepers looking after the pair aren't able to find out the genders of the new arrivals just yet as baby lemurs spend the first few months of their life piggybacking on their mums.