First Ever Mexican Spider Monkey Born at Nashville Zoo

Posted By : The Animal Facts Editorial Team

Date: April 19, 2022 2:57 pm

A Mexican spider monkey clings to its mother at the Nashville Zoo

Photo Credit: Nashville Zoo

Nashville Zoo are celebrating the first successful birth of a Mexican spider monkey infant to their troop. Mother Molly welcomed her infant on April 9th with father Sandy.

Zookeepers report that both mother and infant are healthy. With the new arrival the zoo’s Mexican spider monkey troop now has five members. At this time it is planned for the infant to remain at Nashville Zoo and help grow the spider monkey troop.

“Molly has been a great mom so far. She is calm, nurturing and gives the baby plenty of time to nurse,” said Nashville Zoo’s Primate Supervisor Brittany Canfield. “Each member occasionally gets to groom the baby too.”

Nashville Zoo became home to a Mexican spider monkey troop in 2016 and they moved in to the state of the art Spider Monkey: Treetop Passage habitat in 2017.

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Mexican spider monkeys (teles geoffroyi vellerosus) are found in South and Central America. The International Union for Conservation of Nature list them as critically endangered due to aggressive habitat loss and destruction.

This species is arboreal spending much of its time in the trees. They have a prehensile tail which can support their entire weight as they move through the trees.

Nashville Zoo participate in the Mexican Spider Monkey Species Survival Plan® which aims to create a genetically diverse population of these primates in accredited American zoos. They also provide funds to support the Rainforest Awareness Rescue Education Center, a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon.

Guests visiting the Nashville Zoo can meet the spider monkey infant in the Spider Monkey: Treetop Passage habitat.

Learn more about Spider Monkeys here – Spider Monkey Fact File | The Animal Facts

Learn more about the Nashville Zoo on their website – Nashville Zoo