Overview
- Yuji, a six-week-old patas monkey, is under assisted care at the Guadalajara Zoo after his first-time mother could not hold him.
- Keepers stabilized him in an incubator and set a schedule of four daily bottles of fortified milk under close supervision.
- A stuffed dog acts as a stand-in for maternal contact, with a bear and a monkey plush rotated to keep his companion clean.
- Zoo officials say transfer to the patas group will wait until he leaves a milk-only diet for fruits and vegetables, which the lead veterinarian says could be around six months old.
- The story has drawn wide attention through comparisons to Japan’s viral macaque Punch, while an animal-rights advocate questions assisted rearing and the zoo argues the intervention likely saved his life.