Baby squirrel monkeys at the Budapest Zoo

Hungary’s Budapest Zoo is celebrating the birth of not one, not two, but three squirrel monkeys over the last five weeks. (The monkeys were born to three separate mothers.)

Squirrel monkeys are native to the tropical forests of Central and South America, where they spend much of their time jumping from tree to tree. In fact, their bodies are well adapted to this type of movement: Their thighs are short in relation to their lower legs, giving them extra force for leaping.

In Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Slovenia, squirrel monkeys aren’t called squirrel monkeys at all — in those countries, the word for these little guys refers to the skull-like markings on their faces and translates to “death’s head monkey.”

– Lindsay Barnett – LA Times

Photo credit: Attila Kovacs / European Pressphoto Agency

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