Story By: Michael Leidig,Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

An endangered bonobo chimpanzee baby has been born at the Wilhelma zoo located in the grounds of historic castle in the German city of Stuttgart.

The birth of the baby to 13-year-old mother Huenda happened last week, with the tiny baby now being shown to zoo visitors for the first time.

Currently the sex of the newborn is not known, and it has not been named.

Pictures Credit: CEN / Kristina Wegener

The arrival caught zookeepers by surprise according to spokeswoman Bea Jarczewski, who said: “Staff saw that Huenda was hunched over as if she was carrying something heavy. When I looked more closely, they saw a tiny newborn baby.”

She said that usually human assistance is not needed with primate births and that was the case with this birth as well. The new baby joins a clan of 20 other bonobo chimpanzees (Pan paniscus).

Pictures Credit: CEN / Kristina Wegener

In the wild, they live in central Africa and are regarded as endangered.

Dr Marianne Holtkoetter, who is in charge of the great apes at the zoo, said: “Our focus is on preserving the widest possible basis of the genome in the zoos. 

“The family line of Huenda is not yet strongly represented, so her offspring are an important addition to the gene pool.”

It is the second baby born to the 13-year-old, following a son called Makasi who was born in 2015.

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