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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Photo Credit: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS

Video Credit: © WCS

CONTACT:

Barbara Russo: 718-265-3428; 917-494-5493; brusso@wcs.org

Max Pulsinelli - 718-220-5182; 571-218-7601; mpulsinelli@wcs.org

Steve Fairchild: 718-220-5189; sfairchild@wcs.org

WCS’s Prospect Park Zoo Debuts Bolivian Titi Monkeys

View video here: https://youtu.be/F_hFWEAD2ao

Bolivian titi monkeys are native to South America

The Prospect Park Zoo will celebrate Lunar New Year and ring in the year of the monkey on: Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 27 and 28.

Brooklyn, N.Y. – Feb. 18, 2016 – Two Bolivian titi monkeys (Callicebus donacophilus) are making their public debut at WCS’s (Wildlife Conservation Society) Prospect Park Zoo.

The two new titi monkeys, a male and a female, share their habitat with a pair of white-faced saki monkeys (Pithecia pithecia). Both species are New World monkeys, indigenous to South America. Titis and sakis have overlapping ranges in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia; titi monkeys are also found in northern Paraguay.

Titi monkeys are arboreal and diurnal, meaning they dwell in trees and are active during the day. Their diet in the wild, as well as at the zoo, consists of fruits, leaves, and insects.

The new titis live in the zoo’s Hall of Animals Building. Other monkey species at the Prospect Park Zoo include Geoffroy’s marmosets (Callithrix geoffroyi), Geoffroy’s tamarins (Saguinus geoffroyi), golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia), and hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas).

WCS’s Prospect Park Zoo and Queens Zoo are celebrating the Year of the Monkey with special activities to ring in the Lunar New Year. Activities at the Prospect Park Zoo are Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 27 and 28. Activities at the Queens Zoo are Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 20 and 21.

To read Prospect Park Zoo Director Denise McClean’s blog on the new Bolivian titi monkeys, visit WCS’s Wild View photo blog at http://blog.wcs.org/photo/.

For more information or to speak with a WCS expert, contact Barbara Russo at 917-494-5493, 718-265-3428, or brusso@wcs.org.

The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Prospect Park Zoo – $8.00 for adults, $6 for seniors 65 and older, $5 for kids 3-12, free for children under 3. Zoo hours are 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. weekdays, and to 5:30 P.M. on weekends and holidays, April through October. 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. November through March. The Prospect Park Zoo is located at 450 Flatbush Avenue in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. For further information, call 718-399-7339 or visit www.prospectparkzoo.com.

WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in nearly 60 nations and in all the world’s oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: newsroom.wcs.org Follow: @WCSNewsroom. For more information: 347-840-1242.

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