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A critically endangered primate, nicknamed the dancing lemur because of the way it moves, was born in December 2022, the first successful such birth in Europe, Chester Zoo has said.

The Coquerel’s sifaka lemur arrived to parents Beatrice and Elliot, on 19 December 2022, 18 months after the duo were translocated from the USA to the zoo to begin a vital new conservation breeding programme, the zoo said.

Mark Brayshaw, curator of mammals at the zoo, said the birth of the baby Coquerel’s sifaka was a “landmark moment” for the species.

“It’s really exciting to be the first team of conservationists in Europe to successfully breed this unusual and extremely rare primate," Brayshaw said.

“While it’s still early days, both mum and baby are doing great. Beatrice is feeding her new arrival regularly and is keeping it nestled in her fur as she leaps from tree to tree. In a few weeks’ time, the baby will graduate to riding on her back, before branching out and learning to climb trees independently at around six months old. It won’t be long until this bright-eyed baby will be bouncing 20ft between tree to tree just like its parents.”

The Coquerel’s sifaka lemur population has suffered an 80-percent decline in just 30 years due to widespread deforestation in northwest Madagascar, the zoo said.

The species was listed as critically endangered and upgraded to the highest conservation priority in 2018 by the world’s authority on the state of nature, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Currently only seven Coquerel’s sifaka lemur are cared for in three zoos in Europe, and the family at Chester Zoo are the only ones living in the UK. Credit: Chester Zoo via Storyful