The Halls Gap Zoo has confirmed the name and gender of the September born Ring-tailed Lemur.
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The baby Ring-Tailed Lemur has been identified as a male and the name chosen was Anja.
The name was submitted by Amy Atherton and was chosen from the naming competition which was run in conjunction with the Ararat Advertiser, Stawell-Times News and Wimmera Mail-Times in October.
Halls Gap keeper Mia Hammond said the staff at the Zoo chose the name because of it's significance.
OTHER NEWS:
Amy Atherton thought of the name after the the Anja Community Reserve in Madagascar, where Ring-Tailed Lemurs can be found.
"With our previous girl Tiana we chose a Madagascan name, which means love," she said.
"This name is also from Madagascar, which we really liked.
"The whole team had had input in the name as well.
"Myself and the other people liked that name the best, it was unanimous, we loved that name."
Ms Hammond said it was exciting to see the young Ring-Tailed Lemur
"He has started to eat lots of food and become his own man," she said.
OTHER NEWS:
The infant was born on September 11 to parents Asha and Dodi.
"He has been really great since then, we have been watching his development," Ms Hammond said.
"He first started riding her (Asha) on her stomach and then her back and now he is really getting off on his own."
The Ring-tailed Lemur is highly social animal with the females dominating the males in all circumstances, including feeding priority.
They are native to Madagascar and are an endangered species.
The newborn's mother Asha arrived at Halls Gap Zoo from Mogo Wildlife Park in March 2020 and settled in very quickly with Halls Gap Zoo resident Lemur Dodi (newborn's father).
This is the pair's second child with Tiana the Ring-tailed Lemur celebrating her first birthday in September.
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