A rare ginger monkey born at an Australian zoo has made its public debut – after being rejected by its mother. Elka, a Francois Langur monkey, is being hand-raised by staff at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

Zookeepers explained that the monkey was rejected by its mother simply because of its ginger colouring. “The mother took one look at the baby and walked away from it,” explained one member of staff. “Monkeys are very much social animals and the mother would have been very conscious of losing her position among the group. It is very unlikely they would have accepted a ginger offspring and they would both likely have been ostracised from the group.”

Ginger monkeys are, like their human counterparts, a mutant breed and seem to raise grave suspicion among other monkeys. Their Latin name, Gingerus Unacceptablus, derives from their difficulty in social acceptance.

They are also known to face severe problems with being overexposed to sunlight and have a tendency towards freckles and anger-management issues. Zookeepers were unsuccessful in an attempt to persuade Elka’s mother that the baby was actually strawberry blonde.

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