Two baby mandrills born at zoo just weeks apart

Chester Zoo is celebrating the birth of not one but two baby mandrills.

The primates entered the world just five weeks apart and are the first of their kind to be born at the zoo in more than a decade.

The first to arrive was born to new mum Brio, with the second baby mandrill born to mum, Obi. The new babies are half siblings and share the same dad, Kamau.

Mandrills are the world's largest monkey species.

Mandrills get blue markings on their face when they get older

Mandrills are shy and reclusive and live in the rainforests of West and Central Africa.

They are born with grey faces, but will soon start to develop a red muzzle, with blue ridges on both side of their faces, as they get older and reach adulthood - like the mandrill Rafiki, made famous in the Lion King.

Mandrills are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of threatened species and numbers in the wild have declined significantly in recent years.

Primate experts say the biggest threat the species faces is habitat loss, as the forests they live are often cut down for timber and agricultural use.

The babies spend these first few months of holding on closely to their mums

Zookeepers don't know whether the babies are male or female yet as they haven't been able to get close enough to tell. That's because when mandrills are born they cling tightly to their mums for the first few months of life.

Siobhan Ward, Primate Keeper at the zoo, said: "To have two baby mandrills, born within weeks of each other, after more than 10 years, is just incredible.

"The two new arrivals will only spend a few months at their mums' sides before gaining enough confidence to explore on their own with the rest of the group. "