FOUR adorable monkeys have been welcomed into the city after Colchester Zoo saw a new species arrive at its site.

The Maldon Road attraction is now home to four eastern pygmy marmosets, bolstering its ever-growing animal family.

The all-female quartet, which made the journey from Chester Zoo, are named after characters from Blackadder.

Queenie, Nursie, Bob and Maria Escalosa are housed with the zoo’s Golden-lion tamarin at Canopy of South America where they will share their home together.

The eldest out of the females is Queenie who was born on August 7, 2020, followed by twins Nursie and Bob on May 4, 2021 and Maria Escalosa on October 5, 2021.

Bosses at the zoo say all four females have “settled in well”.

“Over the next few weeks, the Animal Care Team will start to get to know their individual personalities,” they said.

“This is the first time that we have housed this species here at the Zoo although we were once home to a pair common pygmy marmoset back in 2016.”

Eastern pygmy marmosets are currently listed as ‘vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species with their home currently under threat from deforestation.