Baby Monkey

We had a troop of Black and White Colobus Monkeys. They were very amusing to watch play. We got a call from the keeper early one morning. There was an extra monkey! One of the females had a baby in the night. We didn't even know she was pregnant. Well, mom wasn't doing well. She was darted and brought to the hospital. She didn't put up a fight, which is very unusual. The baby was pure white and so tiny! She was scared, which is very normal. We had two teams, one working on mom, the other dealing with the baby. I was on baby duty. She was small enough to sit in my hand perfectly comfortable. We weighed her, drew some blood, did an exam and waited to see what would happen with mom. The baby was having a hard time, calling for her mom and panicking about all these hairless, pink apes handling her. I snuggled the baby up next to my chest. She kept looking for something to hold on to. I gave her a pinkie. She held onto it with both paws as if it was her only lifeline. I then cooed at her, talking softly. I told her she was safe and her mom would be ok. I rocked back and forth trying to soothe this poor, frightened baby. She was calling for her mom pretty loud and as we walked and talked, her cries lessened and softened. Finally, the poor thing fell asleep in three of my fingers, still gripping my pinkie. The other people around me stopped because the baby's cries had stopped. They all turned to me expecting the baby to have died and found her sleeping soundly cuddled in my hand. Awe and amazement came over everyone. All I could say was "I'm good at putting babies to sleep, no matter what the species."