Lion-tailed macaques at centre

ATROOP of 11 endangered lion-tailed macaques will arrive at Camperdown Wildlife Centre in Dundee tomorrow.

The centre will be closed to the public tomorrow to allow them time to settle in, but the zoo will reopen on Sunday at 10am.

The troop i s coming from Belfast Zoo and consists of four males and seven females. The youngest was born in June while the oldest is 20 years old.

Staff have been working behind t he scenes t o prepare their enclosure, which had an extra house added with a holding area, plus three climbing frames and ropes connecting them to the two sycamore trees.

The monkeys are classed as endangered and the total wild population is estimated to be less than 4,000 i ndividuals, made up of 47 isolated sub-populations in seven different locations.

Mainly arboreal, they prefer the upper canopy of primary tropical evergreen rainforest but may also be found in monsoon forest in hilly country and in disturbed forest.

The lion-tailed macaque is endemic to the Western Ghats hill ranges in southwestern I ndia from the Kalakad Hills north t o Anshi Ghat, in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Aileen Whitelaw, of the wildlife centre, said: “We expect the macaques to be extremely popular and we are delighted vistors will get an early chance to see them.”

The centre is open daily 10am-3.30pm October to February.