Lion Country Safari welcomes second rare baby chimpanzee
PALM BEACH - It's a girl! Lion Country Safari welcomed an adorable baby chimpanzee last month.
Lili was born on January 28th at the West Palm Beach safari park.
Her name honors the Tonkolili Chimpanzee Project, a conservation initiative in Sierra Leone.
Lili joins a family of two females and three males, including one-year-old Tonk. Staff members said Lili's mom, Juniper, has been proudly showing off her baby, who can be seen clinging to her mom inside their habitat.
Lili's birth is rare and significant due to the declining number of chimpanzees in the wild and the low number of births in the population.
Chimpanzees are listed as endangered and critically endangered in some regions by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with populations decreasing due to habitat loss, poaching, and disease.
Lion Country Safari is home to 17 chimpanzees and is a proud participant in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan and the Chimpanzee Saving Animals From Extinction (SAFE) Program.