Baby chimp loves her four 'mannies'

At Taiyuan Zoo in north China's Shanxi Province, keeper Zhu Xiangbo (second from left) and his three male colleagues are playing mom to a female chimp deserted by her mother soon after she was born in May. [Photo/chinanews.com]

TAIYUAN - Zhu Xiangbo carries the baby in his arms, touching her head gently with one hand, as he uses the other to put a feeding bottle to her mouth. The little cutie looks up at him, pursing her lips slightly.

"She is fawning, requesting a kiss," Zhu says, also smiling.

Zhu's baby is a chimpanzee.

At Taiyuan Zoo in north China's Shanxi Province, Zhu, 30, and his three male colleagues are playing mom to a female chimp deserted by her mother soon after she was born in May.

The chimp is yet to be named. "Local media have suggested soliciting a name from the public," Zhu says.

As the chimp turned six-months-old on Wednesday, they were delighted to find she had reached four kilograms.

"It's four times the weight she was born at," Zhu says.

It was mother's first baby and after the delivery the mother, Laoqi, refused to even touch the baby.

"We tried several times to have Laoqi accept the baby, but failed," says another keeper Zhao Jing, 40, so the keepers have become the chimp's "mannies."

To raise the chimp, they searched the Internet and learned from scratch.