Mother monkey gets pregnant while isolated in her cage

A zoo in Japan finally thinks it has discovered how one of its monkeys – the female monkey – could have become pregnant, while the female was living alone in her enclosure.

The case began in February 2021, when “Momo” gave birth to a baby primate, shocking zookeepers, Global News reported. The animal had not had contact with other animals for a long time. So how could the situation be explained? It took two years for zoo officials to carry out a real investigation, in particular by collecting hair from the baby monkey. The mother, very protective of her child, gave the employees a hard time.

The latter finally discovered a hole with a width of a very small centimeter through the enclosure. A male named Itoh lived in the next cage. The zoo therefore concluded that the baby monkey would have been conceived through this small flaw.

The zoo installed a steel plate to camouflage the hole. The two monkeys and their baby should be reunited in the same enclosure soon.

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