A rare orange-haired monkey has made her debut at a zoo in Sydney - after being rejected by her mum.

一隻稀有的橙毛猴在被母猴棄養後，首次在雪梨動物園亮相。

Elka, a Francois Langur monkey (photo,Reuters), is being hand-raised by staff who showed her off at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. When the rare monkey peeked out of her blanket, she seemed stunned by all the attention. Elka's birth recently was a surprise to zoo keepers who weren't sure mum, Saigon, was even pregnant.

這隻黑葉猴名叫愛兒卡（見圖，路透），是由雪梨塔隆加動物園員工親手養育後展示在世人眼前。當這隻罕見的猴子從毛毯中露臉張望時，似乎對自己引起這麼大的注意感到錯愕。愛兒卡最近出生，連園方管理員都感到意外，因為他們並不確定愛兒卡的媽咪莎岡是否懷孕。

Staff in the zoo will now look for a new temporary home for the orange-haired leaf-eating monkey because she's all alone. Francois Langur monkeys subsist mainly on leaves. Fruit, buds, flowers, seeds, stem and bark provide supplements. They drink very little water.

園方現在要為這頭橙毛食葉的猴子，暫時找個新家，因為牠孤伶伶的。黑葉猴以葉子為主食，水果、花苞、鮮花、種子、莖和樹皮則是副食。牠們很少喝水。

Elka's parents have black fur but it is thought the infant's orange colour helps parents to spot them in the wild.

愛兒卡的父母全身都是黑毛，但一般認為，猴寶寶的橙毛有助於父母在野地找到牠們。

Senior primate keeper Mandy Mclellan said: "Primates are quite an intelligent group of animals, a lot of their social development depends on learning. Often first time mums might not have had enough exposure to other females giving birth so they haven't learned social skills and haven't learned what they need to do with these little babies." Therefore, Saigon's reaction to Elka is not uncommon for a first-time monkey mother.

資深靈長類管理員曼迪‧麥克雷蘭說：「靈長類是相當聰明的動物，牠們很多社會發展全靠學習。新手媽媽可能未能接觸其他已經有生育經驗的母猴，因為牠們還不嫻熟社交技巧，也還沒學會照顧這些小貝比的技巧。」因此莎岡對愛兒卡的反應，對初次當媽咪的猴子並不罕見。

Keepers will raise Elka, feeding her baby formula every three hours, and prepare her for eventual reintroduction to her parents.

園方飼養人員目前每3個小時餵牠嬰兒奶粉，並準備讓牠最後和親生父母團聚。

Her species is very rare in the wild and under great pressure from loss of habitat and poachers.

由於面臨棲息地消失和非法狩獵雙重壓力，這種猴子在野外很罕見。

A recent census suggested there could be as few as 1,000 left in Vietnam and China.

最近一項調查統計顯示，在越南和中國可能只剩一千隻黑葉猴。

Taronga's life sciences general manager, Cameron Kerr, said: "Taronga's keepers were prepared and are managing the difficult process of hand-raising the langur as the species faces real risk of extinction in the wild."

塔隆加動物園總管生命科學的柯爾說：「塔隆加動物園飼養人員已經有萬全的準備，同時正在管理親手養育黑葉猴的艱辛過程，因為這種猴子在野外已經面臨滅絕的真正危機。」

"This is outstanding news for species, although the mother, Saigon, has not accepted the baby. Taronga is the only zoo in Australasia caring for Francois' langurs," spokesman Mark Williams said. "Everyone had their fingers crossed."

動物園發言人威廉斯則說：「這對黑葉猴這個物種是個天大的好消息，雖然媽媽莎岡還沒有接受寶寶。塔隆加是澳洲唯一照顧養育黑葉猴的動物園，大家都祈禱能夠圓滿成功。」

Keepers named Elka after a primate rescue center supervisor at Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam, where three of the zoo's keepers have worked with langurs. Francois' langurs are native to southeast Asia, where they're highly endangered.

園方給這隻猴子取名愛兒卡，是因越南庫風國家公園一個靈長類援救中心的主管就叫做愛兒卡，動物園有3名飼養人員在照料黑葉猴時和該中心合作。黑葉猴原生地是東南亞，牠們是高度瀕臨絕種的物種。

Leaf monkeys have long limbs and tails and very short thumbs. Their body lengths range from 20-26 inches, with 32-35 inch tails. They weigh about 13 pounds.

黑葉猴四肢和尾巴都長，唯獨大拇指很短。身長20-26吋，尾巴卻長至32-35吋，體重約13磅。

The species are active during the day, and spend most of their time in trees. They are noisy animals that use both arms and legs to swing, leap, bounce and crash through tree branches. Mutual relaxed grooming is important in the social life of these primates and occupies up to five hours a day.

黑葉猴白天活潑好動，多半在樹上活動。牠們生性嘈雜，喜歡手腳並用擺盪、飛躍、蹦蹦跳跳，在枝椏間衝撞。互相梳毛、放鬆身心在這種靈長類動物社交生活中占重要的一環，每天要占用5個鐘頭。

Single births are usual, following a gestation period of about 200 days. The infant may nurse for up to two years, but once weaned, it ceases to have contact with its mother. Females become sexually mature at 3-4 years, and males at four years of age.

黑葉猴通常只生一胎，懷孕期長達200天左右，通常餵奶2年，但一旦斷奶，就不會再和母猴接觸。母猴要3-4年性徵才會成熟，公猴則要到4歲才成年。