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The Day They Rode to Liverpool
Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write: Chester Zoo once drove a monkey two hours to Liverpool for a CT scan.
I know, I know — we're talking about a 15-year-old roloway monkey named Masaya, not a routine trip to the vet. But according to keepers at the zoo, that's exactly what happened. Masaya had been struggling with a mysterious foot problem for years — a golf-ball-sized mass that just kept getting worse. And after all the X-rays, ultrasounds, and biopsies back at the zoo, nobody could figure out what was causing it.
So off they went. Keepers packed anesthesia equipment, medications, blankets — everything Masaya might need for a road trip that would make most humans uncomfortable.
"We had to bring everything she might need," said Charlotte Bentley, Veterinary Officer at the zoo. "It's not every day you take a monkey to vet school."
Can we just pause to appreciate how wild that sentence is? I'd pay good money to see the looks on those University of Liverpool students' faces when they heard a roloway monkey was coming through their doors.
No Roadmap, Just Determination
Here's what makes Masaya's story genuinely remarkable: when veterinarians looked at her foot and the growing mass on it, they couldn't find a single previous case of the same surgery being performed on a roloway monkey. Zero. Nothing. They were completely pioneering.
Think about that for a second. These surgeons were essentially operating blind — not because they lacked skill (these were experienced veterinary professionals), but because nobody had documented this exact situation before.
The alternative was amputation. Plain and simple. The mass was too large, too problematic, and Masaya had already suffered with it for far too long.
But the team decided to try something different. Working together with specialists from the University of Liverpool's Small Animal Teaching Hospital, they performed a delicate operation to remove the mass while preserving as much of Masaya's foot as possible.
The result? She lost only one toe. One.
I don't know about you, but that feels like a medical miracle to me.
A Newborn Changes Everything
Veterinarian Rachel Burrow, who helped with both the CT scan and the surgery, described it as "the last chance to save Masaya's foot." And she emphasized how different it was working with primates compared to her usual patients — cats and dogs.
"The surgery was a success — she's comfortable, active, and using the limb well," Burrow said.
But here's where the story gets even more beautiful. A few months after recovery, Masaya gave birth to a daughter named Lagertha.
Suddenly, that successful surgery wasn't just about Masaya's comfort anymore. It was about something much bigger.
Zoe Edwards, one of the primate keepers at Chester Zoo, explained it perfectly: "If she'd had an amputation, we'd have been left with real questions about whether she could hold her offspring or continue with her normal behaviors."
Can you imagine being that keeper, watching Masaya cradle newborn Lagertha in her arms, knowing that a few months earlier, she might have lost her foot entirely? That moment of holding her daughter — that's directly connected to a successful surgery that had never been done before on this species.
What's in a Name?
Lagertha is a name pulled from Viking history — a legendary shield-maiden who was said to be fierce, brave, and utterly extraordinary.
Given what her mother went through, I'd say the name fits perfectly.
Lagertha is Masaya's third daughter, which might not sound significant until you understand what roloway monkeys are facing right now.
Why One Little Monkey Matters So Much
Roway monkeys are critically endangered. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, fewer than 2,000 of them remain in the wild. They live in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, where they're threatened by habitat destruction and poaching.
In captivity, it's no better. Chester Zoo is one of only two places in the entire UK where you can see roloway monkeys. And Masaya? She's one of only a few breeding females in zoos across all of Europe.
That's not a lot of genetic diversity to work with. Every successful birth, every healthy mother, every infant that thrives — it all matters enormously.
Masaya participates in the European Endangered Species Programme, which sounds exactly like what it is: a coordinated effort to keep this species from vanishing off the planet entirely.
So when Lagertha was born, it wasn't just a happy moment for zoo staff. It was a genuine contribution to the survival of an entire species.
Watching Her Grow
From what the keepers report, Lagertha is doing wonderfully. She's described as "very dinky" (which is an absolutely perfect word for a baby monkey), curious about her surroundings, and already showing some of her mother's personality.
Masaya, for her part, is apparently nailing the whole parenting thing. "She's a very experienced mum and she's parenting magnificently," Zoe said.
After everything Masaya went through — years of mysterious foot problems, the stressful transport to Liverpool, pioneering surgery, recovery, and then giving birth — it's genuinely heartwarming to see her thriving as a mother.
These days, you can find Lagertha clinging to her mother's fur, exploring the roloway monkey habitat at Chester Zoo, and being generally curious about everything. She shares her home with four other monkeys, learning the social ropes of her family group.
What This Story Means
I keep thinking about the chain of events here. One monkey with a mysterious foot problem. A decision to attempt pioneering surgery instead of amputation. Months of recovery. And then a healthy infant, born to a mother who can hold her properly, care for her naturally, and raise her without limitations.
Each step along the way could have gone differently. The surgery could have failed. Masaya could have struggled during recovery. The pregnancy could have been complicated.
But it didn't. It all worked. And now there's a tiny monkey named after a Viking queen, growing up with her mother, part of a desperate fight to save an entire species from extinction.
Sometimes the biggest stories come in the smallest packages.