A brilliant photograph of Fota Widlife Park’s newest Colombian spider monkey and its family earned Glenville photographer Kevin Egan the highly sought after Ireland AM Camera Club award for September.
Kevin captured the photo of the critically endangered species while on a recent visit to the zoo with his grandchildren. It shows the young monkey with its mother Batty and fellow monkey Norma.
Speaking to The Avondhu, Kevin said the recognition from the Ireland AM Camera Club came as a nice surprise recently. “It was by chance really, I was recently down at Fota Island with the grandkids and got some nice photos of monkeys down there. I’ve been taking photographs with over 50 years, I’ve always had an interest in it.
“People told me I should have went into it professionally years ago but I was happy enough with what I was doing at the time. I’d say the first of the many photos I took was back in the 60s with my sisters,” he said.
The Colombian spider monkey has a black body and long limbs with thumb-less hands. They are social animals found in groups of up to 30 in the wild. Their diet consists mainly of fruit and they can weigh up to 20 pounds.
