A zoo in New Zealand’s capital has doubled its population of ring-tailed lemurs after all four of its female ring-tailed lemurs gave birth to twins, Lisa Ridley, a zookeeper who brought in the male at the start of the year, said on Tuesday. 2022 in the hope of saving the species from extinction, Reuters and Agerpres report.

The ring-tailed lemur, the species made famous by King Julien’s character in the 2005 animated film Madagascar, is on the endangered species list.

Wellington Zoo’s ring-tailed lemurs only live 18 months, and in early 2022 male Zeus was brought in with the hope that their population could increase.

Lisa Ridley said that since all four females were about to become mothers for the first time, they were not sure if their breeding would be successful.

“We are very, very happy that we have four sets of healthy twins and they are doing well,” she said.

The first pair of twins was born in August, and the last – last week.

The population of ring-tailed lemurs in the wild is declining. One reason is that female ring-tailed lemurs are sexually receptive for one or two days a year.