Celebrating ‘Kito’

Happy birthday to ‘Kito’! Our eastern black-and-white colobus monkey is 4 years old today!

The name “colobus” comes from a Greek word that means “mutilated”, because colobus monkeys have very unusual thumbs. Where other monkey species have thumbs, colobus monkeys only have a small bump and the remaining nail. This adaptation gives colobus monkeys an amazing advantage in using their long fingers like hooks to swing through the forest canopy in which they live! While their forest home has plenty of food, it’s low in nutrition, so colobus monkeys have multi-chambered stomachs that allow food to ferment and extract as many nutrients and calories as possible. Isn’t nature amazing?

Swing on over to the African Rainforest building to wish Kito a happy birthday!

Eastern black-and-white colobus monkey ‘Kito’