Critically endangered monkey born at British zoo

A rare monkey has been born at Chester Zoo, England, giving the critically endangered Sulawesi crested macaque species a much needed boost.

The British zoo captured video of the tiny female, named Amidala, last Friday (March 3), showing the little one cradled in her mother's arms and surrounded by fellow monkeys in the zoo enclosure.

Born to mother Lisa and father Mamassa on January 14, Amidala is Chester Zoo's eighteenth resident Sulawesi crested macaque.

She is "a welcome boost to the European endangered species breeding programme that is working to protect the charismatic monkeys", Chester Zoo told Reuters.

Native to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, the Sulawesi crested macaques are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Factors such as habitat loss and illegal wildlife trade have led to a continuous decrease in the species numbers with only 5,000 individuals estimated to remain, the zoo said.

According to the zoo the 'species wild number is believed to have plummeted by around 80% in the last 30 years'.