The Little Rock Zoo will build new exhibition areas for its Angolan colobus monkeys, a new species at the zoo, and its serval cats, which have been held in an enclosure that dates to the 1950s.
The $1,096,867 project (with contingency fees of 20 percent) will be paid for with funds accumulated from the 3/8 cent capital sales tax approved by voters in 2011. The Little Rock City Board will vote tonight on a resolution approving a contract with American Structure Inc. to build the exhibition areas.
Zoo Director Susan Altrui said the colobus habitat will include an “up and over walkway” where guests will walk under the passage the monkeys will use to get from one area of the exhibit to another. The two areas will allow the monkeys to climb and play and will have several places for visitors to view them. Altrui said the exhibits will feature updated “back holding areas for improved keeper care” and night holding for the animals.
The new exhibition areas, which will be complete in spring 2019, will be across from the cheetah area and west of the dik-dik habitat. The monkeys include three females and one male, all acquired last year at the recommendation of the Species Survival Plan of the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The servals, spotted cats native to sub-Saharan regions of Africa, are a male and female pair, now living at the zoo’s small carnivore area.