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Your morning adorable: Baby Francois’ langur monkey makes his debut at Australia’s Taronga Zoo

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At the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, a great deal of excitement surrounds the latest addition to the resident family of Francois’ langur monkeys. A male Francois’ langur named Keo-co was born Jan. 30 and ventured into an outdoor enclosure for the first time on Wednesday.

Keo-co’s older sister, Elke, was born in 2009 and was the first offspring for mother Saigon. Unfortunately, Saigon didn’t immediately take to motherhood and zoo staff elected to raise Elke themselves in order to ensure that she was healthy and well cared for. (Elke is now fully grown and still lives at Taronga, but she occupies a different enclosure than Saigon.)

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This time around, Saigon seems to have gotten the hang of parenting and the zoo reports that Keo-co is extremely bonded to her. He is being raised both by Saigon and another resident female Francois’ langur monkey, Meili. ‘The two mothers take care of him -- Saigon is the primary caregiver but when she needs a break Meili takes over; they take it in turns,’ Taronga primate keeper Roxanne Pellat told Australia’s AAP news service.

Francois’ langur monkeys are native to parts of Vietnam and China. They’re endangered in large part due to hunting as a result of their use in some traditional medicines; they’re also the victims of habitat loss and other common causes of wildlife population decline. Though members of the species are born with vivid orange coloring, their fur darkens as they age; adult Francois’ langurs are primarily black with white markings.

See more photos and a video of Keo-co after the jump!

RELATED CUTE ANIMAL BABIES:
Your morning adorable: Baby mangabey monkey drinks from a bottle at Rome’s Bioparco Zoo
Your morning adorable: Endangered silvery gibbon baby debuts at Germany’s Hellabrunn Zoo

-- Lindsay Barnett

1st photo: Greg Wood / AFP/Getty Images
2nd photo: Daniel Munoz / Reuters
3rd-5th photos: photos: Dean Lewins / European Pressphoto Agency
6th photo: Greg Wood / AFP/Getty Images
Video: Taronga Zoo

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