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Berlin (dpa) - Two Roloway monkeys have moved into the Tierpark Berlin for the first time.
The zoo announced on Thursday that they should have young and thus help save their endangered primate species.
The male Madiba (5) comes from the Duisburg Zoo, his partner Akua (4) from the Ouwehands Dierenpark in Rhenen, the Netherlands.
After the first human impression, the two nimble little monkeys find each other very likeable.
Roloway monkeys have a distinctive white goatee and a very long black tail.
In the wild they only exist in two small areas in the south of Ghana and on the Ivory Coast, the zoo announced.
The destruction of their habitat and poaching would have caused the populations to shrink rapidly in the past few decades.
According to estimates by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN, only around 300 Roloway monkeys still live in their original range.
The zoo therefore sees breeding in coordination with European programs as particularly important.
"By keeping this animal species with us, we secure the long-term existence of these primates as an ark of genes," said curator and animal park veterinarian Andreas Pauly.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210506-99-494883 / 2