Adorable monkey siblings with different mothers born hours apart

By Bradley Stokes via SWNS

Zookeepers were given a double shock when two baby gelada monkeys were born to different mothers just hours apart – fathered by the same adult male.

Adorable pictures show the male and female newborns being cradled by their proud moms after they arrived on the same day.

“It was a total shock for the team," said Jodie Dryden, lower primates section leader at Dudley Zoo, England.

“We knew both females were pregnant but were not expecting the babies to arrive on the same day.

Mom Tana gave birth to her second boy, Kaleb, in the early hours of October 15.

While her keepers were caring for her, another female primate called Addis went into labor and gave birth to a girl gelada called Zala.

Both half-siblings, whose father is 16-year-old Ebano, were given names linked to their native Ethiopia.

“We believe Tana gave birth first, as the boy was a lot drier than the girl when we found them," Jodie said.

“Our mums are very experienced as both new arrivals are their fourth offspring each, so they’re coping fine with motherhood.

“And the babies, who are now almost a month-old, are doing really well, in fact, we can’t believe how advanced they are as they’re already starting to venture off from their mums.

“Perhaps it’s because there are two of them and they’re causing mischief together, but we’ve never seen babies as confident and wanting to play with their other siblings like this pair.”

The zoo now has 14 gelada monkeys, with proud dad Ebano, fathering all the new babies.