00:44USA: Will the adorable baby chimp Keeva find another mother?
A baby chimpanzee was moved to Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo on Wednesday, in attempts to find a surrogate mother for the infant after her birth-mother was deemed unable to care for the baby.
Baby Keeva, born last month, was taken from the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore to her new home after zoo-keepers noticed that her 27-year-old mother Carole was not adapting to the infant properly. Maryland Zoo's animal care team convened with the Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan (SSP) of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) to find new potential mothers for Keeva, before deciding on the Tampa institution.
Lowry Park Zoo currently has four adult chimpanzees, including 32-year-old Abby, who keepers hope will take care of Keeva. The infant is currently being attended to by animal care specialists in the vicinity of the chimpanzee enclosure, but will only be introduced to Abby when she is four to six months old.
Footage courtesy of Dave Parkinson/Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo
00:44A baby chimpanzee was moved to Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo on Wednesday, in attempts to find a surrogate mother for the infant after her birth-mother was deemed unable to care for the baby.
Baby Keeva, born last month, was taken from the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore to her new home after zoo-keepers noticed that her 27-year-old mother Carole was not adapting to the infant properly. Maryland Zoo's animal care team convened with the Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan (SSP) of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) to find new potential mothers for Keeva, before deciding on the Tampa institution.
Lowry Park Zoo currently has four adult chimpanzees, including 32-year-old Abby, who keepers hope will take care of Keeva. The infant is currently being attended to by animal care specialists in the vicinity of the chimpanzee enclosure, but will only be introduced to Abby when she is four to six months old.
Footage courtesy of Dave Parkinson/Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo