A photographer has captured the heart-warming relationship between baby crowned lemur twins as they kiss and snuggle with their mum.

Adorable snaps taken by a regular wildlife center visitor show the youngsters curled around their mum Tiako’s thigh snoozing, kissing and licking each other.

The photographs were taken earlier this month in the lemur walk at Bristol wildlife center.

The twins were born to mum Tiako and dad Loko at the beginning of May – and it was touch and go for one of them who took longer to be delivered and struggled to breathe at first.

The young lemur was cared for by keepers for the first few hours of its life before being returned to Tiako.

Since then the unnamed twins, whose sex is determined a few weeks after birth, have thrived and are regularly spotted clinging onto their mum in the lemur walk.


The twins, who will be fully grown after a year, share their place with their parents and older brother Nahazo as well as a family of ring-tailed lemurs

Crowned lemurs, who get their name from the distinct crown pattern on the top of their heads, are classified as endangered in their native Madagascar where they are found in just one area in the north of the island, making them susceptible to extinction.


The main threat facing them is habitat loss due to logging, agriculture and forest fires.

Bristol wildlife center’s curator of mammals, Lynsey Bugg, said: “Bristol Zoological Society does a great deal of work with lemurs in the wild and every birth helps towards raising awareness of conservation efforts helping to save them from extinction.”