This teeny tiny baby lemur at the San Diego Zoo will make your Thursday
Having a rough Thursday? Would a cute baby animal help pull you out of the doldrums? How about the teeeeeeniest, tiiiiiniest baby lemur? Luckily, the San Diego Zoo has totally got your back. Yesterday, they posted a video on Facebook . . . and it might be the cutest video we’ve seen in a seriously long time. And we’re HelloGiggles, so that’s saying a lot.
The video shows this 11-day-old baby girl, an endangered ring-tailed lemur, being hand-fed in the San Diego Zoo’s nursery (yes, they have a nursery, and we want to go there and look at all of the cuties). This little lady is in the nursery because she was looking a little weak, even under the care of her mama, and needed a little extra TLC.
The zoo’s blog states that mama Tweena “immediately exhibited motherly instincts, holding her baby and being attentive with her from the start,” but the baby was weak, and the animal care staff became worried that she was not getting the nutrition she needed.
Here’s a glamour shot of our little baby gal who came into the world on May 20:
Now that she’s in the nursery, the zoo keepers are dedicated to getting her strong and well. The video shows a staff member picking up the nameless baby, who is perched on her own stuffed monkey (D’AW):
If you can’t tell how small she is by that picture, look at this one of the staff member stroking her head with only one finger. ONE FINGER:
But petting only lasts a little bit of time, because then it’s time for food!
The baby is being cared for round-the-clock, according to the blog. That includes being fed every two hours. SO PRECIOUS.
Even though the baby is being cared for by staff, lemurs are highly social animals, so the baby’s parents, Tweena and lemur daddy Matthew, were moved to the nursery as well so that they could “hear and smell each other.” Oh, gosh, our hearts. Tweena is also able to groom her baby through the wire mesh of her enclosure, according to the blog.
Unfortunately, lemurs in the wild don’t have it much easier. All lemurs are either threatened or endangered “primarily due to habitat destruction, but they are also hunted for food and unfortunately frequently kept as pets,” according to the zoo’s blog. This breaks our hearts! Look at this little face!
“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,” Janet Hawes, lead keeper for San Diego Zoo Global, said on the blog.
We certainly hope so too, but we’re seriously enjoying watching this cutie be hand-fed in the meantime! Check out the full video, and be prepared to squeal at the adorableness. Welcome to the world, baby lemur, and though we hope you get big and strong soon, you’re the cutest little button we ever did see:
