New Patas Plains primate enclosure opens at Folly Farm zoo

Pembrokeshire’s Folly Farm certainly doesn’t ‘monkey around’ when it comes to investing in new developments and improving its existing enclosures.  The award-winning Pembrokeshire attraction has recently opened a custom designed, ‘Patas Plains’ exhibit. A new and improved habitat for their troop of six patas monkeys.

Folly Farm is one of just two zoos in the UK housing patas monkeys – the other being Monkey World based in Dorset. It is however, the only UK facility to house an actively breeding troop as part of the European Breeding Programme for the species and has already successfully bred twice

Located near the zoos’ Kifaru Reserve rhino enclosure, this impressive new development allows guests to get an improved view of these amazing animals. Consisting of a large outdoor area and impressive house with various bedrooms, every detail has been carefully designed to encourage the natural behaviours of the primates. There’s even a ‘bio floor’ or ‘living floor’ with natural materials for the primates to explore and forage for bugs to snack on and a vast amount of space for them to shelter from the weather or have some privacy if they want. Keepers will also be able to work more closely with the primates to carry out training procedures – essential for running necessary health checks without causing stress to the animals.

The large outside area of their new habitat has various willow trees that are starting to flourish, for the animals to seek shelter and rest, as well as plenty of climbing frames for them to explore – and great viewing areas for guests of course! The large viewing windows into the house also allows guests to watch the monkeys even if they choose to be indoors.

The troop consists of six patas monkeys. There’s the larger male, dad ‘Krusty’, adult females ‘Zweena’ and ‘Zora’, two-year-old ‘Wyatt’ and 11-month-old juvenile ‘Swift’. Last but by no means least, there’s the newest arrival…Four-month-old infant, ‘Kelce’ (the keepers are huge Taylor Swift fans!)

This adorable youngster can be seen in the new enclosure, still being carried around by mum Zora, but slowly starting to explore independently.

Primate keeper Rosie Badger enthused; “We’re delighted with this new exhibit. The Patas monkeys have been with us since the end of 2022 and have been residing in a temporary enclosure whilst we planned and developed the perfect upgrade. We want to encourage as many natural behaviours from our troop as possible to ensure they remain happy and healthy – so have included lots of natural planting within their bedrooms – as well as having plenty of space outdoors. Our guests will get great views of them exploring and hopefully spot our infant, Kelce during their visit this summer holidays!”

Patas monkeys are terrestrial so are more often found exploring at ground level, but they’re actually the fastest primate in the world and can reach speeds of over 30mph! They’re sadly classed as a ‘near threatened’ species on the IUCN Red List, with habitat loss, the pet trade and being hunted for bush meat in the wild being some of their main threats.

Rosie continued; “Since arriving with us around 18 months ago, we’ve been lucky enough to welcome the birth of two patas infants, as part of the European Breeding Programme for the species. The troop has settled in wonderfully to their new enclosure. We couldn’t have wished for a better, stress-free move! So, we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to continue to grow our patas monkey family and welcome even more infants in the future!”