Rare golden tamarin monkey born at zoo

The zoo said the infant will remain exclusively attached to its parents for the first few months of its life

A rare golden lion tamarin monkey has been born at Bristol Zoo.

The baby primate was born to parents Missy and Dourado, and measures just 4 in (10cm) from head to tail.

Bristol Zoo is now home to five golden lion tamarins, one of the world's most endangered primate species.

There are about 160 in captivity in Europe and Bristol Zoo is involved in a Europe-wide captive breeding programme for this species.

The zoo said it has not been able to determine the sex of the infant as it will remain attached to its parents for the first few months of its life.

Keeper Shani Ratnayake said: "Providing all goes well we won't carry out a health check for six months. The health check allows us to give the animal a microchip, check organ function, determine gender and assess general body condition.

"If the youngster is confident and ventures away from mum and dad, we should be able to find out its weight in the next few months."

Golden lion tamarins are native to the tropical rainforests of Brazil where about 90% of their original forest habitat has been cut down.

There are about 1,000 left in the wild, mostly in a small patch of rainforests near Rio de Janeiro.