San Francisco Zoo Welcomes Exotic New Guests
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- A couple of endangered animals are joining the San Francisco Zoo family. A new exhibit opened Friday featuring a pair of Coquerel's sifakas.
The two primates are named Karen and Neil. They will be living in a newly-constructed exhibit that will be an extension of the existing Lipman Family Lemur Forest.
A sifaka – pronounced si-FAHK-ah -- is a species of lemur, found only on the island of Madagascar. They're known to jump from tree to tree and skip sideways on the ground.
The sifakas are mostly white on the head, body and tail with brown patches on the chest, arms and thighs. Their face is bare and black in color except for a small patch of white fur along the bridge of the nose.
Their long tail is used for balance when leaping from tree to tree.
The habitat includes a Baobab tree climbing structure along with other plants native to Madagascar.
The San Francisco Zoo is home to largest lemur habitat in the country with seven different species.
