The hardest farewell: At the German Zoo, the mother monkey observes her first-born stillborn baby for TWO DAYS before ultimately allowing keepers to remove him.
This is the heartbreaking moment a distraught monkey says goodbye to her stillborn baby at a zoo in Germany.
The rare eight-year-old Drill monkey mother called Traceuse is seen looking down at her infant’s lifeless body, watching over her for two days after giving birth at a zoo in Germany.
Posting the distressing photo on its Facebook page, the Gruner Zoo Wuppertal said: ‘The animal care team discovered a sadly lifeless male infant in the arms of Traceuse, which had been born during the night.
For the eight-year-old female, who has lived in the zoo in since 2017, it was the first offspring.
Drills are among the most endangered mammals in the world and are listed by the IUCN as the highest conservation priority of all African primates.
The Gruner Zoo said: ‘Even though we are very sad about the loss of the infant, it makes us happy to see how caringly Traceuse took care of her lifeless offspring.
The zoo added that following the death of the baby monkey another female monkey ‘carried the lifeless body around and carefully touched it again and again.’
