A truly extraordinary and very important event for the preservation of this species (Pan troglodytes verus) which is in critical danger of extinction and a great joy for the park in the month that celebrates its 11th Anniversary.
The primate keepers at BIOPARC Valencia will not forget the Valentine. Last Thursday the 14th, Malin, one of the female chimpanzees that the park houses, went into labor while remaining with the rest of the group in their outdoor enclosure. The technical team was already on “alert” due to the advanced state of pregnancy of the female and diligently implemented the protocol that includes specially conditioning the interior enclosures to guarantee the well-being of the mother by facilitating birth and giving access to the interior to provide maximum peace of mind for the entire group.
Knowing also that Malin is an experienced motherFrom this moment on, surveillance was maintained and everything happened naturally. The wonderful surprise came when The keepers observed that there were two placentas and saw that the female was carrying two “babies.” with their respective umbilical cords. The moment was lived with a mixture of nervousness and joy because it is a truly unusual fact and requires great skill and care on the part of the female who must care for the two newborn calves.
With logical caution due to the complications that this “double upbringing” implies, since then everything has been going on normally and both babies are stable, although it is still very important to monitor developments due to the delicate situation. It has been confirmed that the two little ones suck and that the female has milk in both breasts. The fact of finding the two placentas shows that they are twins and, although they are clearly differentiated by the color of their ears - one has dark ones and the other light ones - the sex has not yet been determined.
Newborn chimpanzee twins at BIOPARC Valencia.
This birth confirms the success that BIOPARC has achieved in exsitu conservation work – in BIOPARC Valencia and BIOPARC Fuengirola – and in situ, through the BIOPARC Foundation in Senegal, under the protection of Jane Goodall Institute, with this subspecies since its beginnings. The twins born at BIOPARC Valencia belong to the most endangered chimpanzee subspecies of the four that exist in the world. BIOPARC Valencia adds this success to other births of the consolidated reproductive group of the subspecies Pan troglodytes verus what the park has. The previous one was the small one Coco only 7 months old.
El “Valencian group” It is made up of a 31-year-old male, Moreno, five females and their offspring: Malin, 29 years old, and Py, 15 years old, who arrived from Boras Djurpark (Sweden); 3 sisters from BIOPARC Fuengirola, Eva, 23 years old, Natalia, 15 years old, and Noelia, 11 years old, who is Coco's mother.
