Meet Yuli and her newborn, just over a week old.

They are at Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire in the UK.

It's Yuli's first baby, but the zoo says two other baby bonobos have been born here.

Twycross is the only zoo which is able to care for the bonobos in the UK.

Visitors here are already cooing over the new arrival.

"It's so cute, it's tiny, oh my God," says one visitor.

Scientists say bonobos share 98.7% of their DNA with humans, making the species our closest living relatives, along with chimpanzees.

The zoo's staff say they're happy that both mother and baby are healthy and importantly, they are bonding well.

Keeper Jennifer Bridges says: "She's just taken to it like a natural. Holding the baby, supporting him, nursing. And the babies really bright and gripping really well. So everything's going as expected."

The zoo has had bonobos in its collection since the 1970s and has 10% of the European population.

Yuli arrived here from a French Zoo in 2023 as part of a program by European zoologists and conservationists to try and improve on the captive population while the population in the wild continues to dwindle.

They are indigenous to the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but the country's conflict with neighboring Rwanda is taking a toll on the species, along with deforestation and hunting.

According to the WWF, there are estimated to be between 15,000 and 50,000 bonobos left in the wild.

Long term studies show that - unlike other apes - bonobo groups are female led.

Female bonobos team up against males to secure higher positions in their social hierarchy.

Scientists have long wondered why bonobos live in generally female-dominated societies since the males are physically bigger and stronger.

But three decades of observations in Congo support the idea of a sisterhood where female bonobos band together to assert their power.

There are more difference from other apes like chimpanzees too. Around the time of ovulation in chimpanzees societies, females get beaten up, but in bonobos the opposite has been observed, they receive less aggression from males and win more conflicts against males.

The zoo sees the latest bonobo birth here as a boost for the conservation of the species.