May 13, 2013
Twycross Zoo’s Baby Crowned Lemur Snacks On A Little Grass

Keepers at Twycross Zoo are celebrating the arrival of a baby Crowned Lemur, born on April 11. Experienced mom Rose is doing a superb job. Infants are initially carried on the mother’s front but as they grow heavier they are moved onto her back. The father takes and active role in parenting as well. Tony Dobbs, Section Head of Primates, said: “The baby arrived a few days earlier than we had expected but both mum and baby are doing very well. While Rose is looking after the newborn, the father, Rik, has taken on the role of the proud, protective father.”

In the wild the Crowned Lemur is confined to a small patch of forest in Madagascar and listed on the IUCN Red List  as Vulnerable. There their population is decreasing because their habitat is in rapid decline principally due to heavy mining, illegal logging and hunting for food.

From zooborns.com

6:03pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z8EaJxkv73Wp
Filed under: primate lemur prosimian animal baby cute zoo twycross 
August 20, 2012
Baby Siamang Swings Into Tel Aviv

Earlier this month, Siamang mom and dad, Jamby and Jan (Jan is the boy), welcomed their first baby, which also marks the first baby Siamang forZoological Center Tel Aviv Ramat Gan. Even though Jamby’s pregnancy lasted eight months, the healthy baby weighed in at just 170 grams (1/3rd of a pound)!

When these Siamangs first arrived at Zoo Tel Aviv, they were exhibited with the Orangutans but the match was not meant to be. Jamby and Jan felt the need assert their dominance over their gentle roommates. When keepers decided the Siamangs were being bullies, the red apes were relocated.

Siamangs are endangered in their native home of Southeast Asia due to habitat destruction.

From zooborns.com

9:43am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z8EaJxRnL-QQ
(Notes: 9)
  
Filed under: Ape Gibbon Siamang Primate Baby Cute 
August 11, 2012

faunafacts:

First-time mother Shanga gets to grips with her newborn baby gorilla at Chessington World of Adventures. Shanga the mother gorilla appears to be tickling her baby’s feet.
Picture: Chessington Zoo

(via fyeahgreatapes)

6:07pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z8EaJxRCcoWB
(Notes: 35)
  
Filed under: Ape Primate Gorilla Baby Cute 
July 9, 2012
Welcome to Baby Mouse Lemur Season!

The Duke Lemur Center is smack-dab in the middle of baby Mouse Lemur season with seven little ones, born to four mothers, in the month of June alone. Four more Mouse Lemur females are pregnant so there are more of these feisty little guys on the way. The first photo shows a set of frantic Mouse Lemur triplets who arrived on June 5th. The second photo and video show a much calmer singleton. 

Gray Mouse Lemurs weigh only about 1/8th of a pound as adults and leap between thin branches in the treetops. While they hunt alone at night, by day they curl up in tree holes with up to fifteen other Mouse Lemurs to sleep in a furry heap. There are seventeen different species of Mouse Lemur, but they all look nearly the same, making research challenging. Only through genetic testing can scientists be sure of what species they are observing.

From Zoo Borns

11:34pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z8EaJxP10kK8
(Notes: 18)
  
Filed under: primate prosimian lemur mouse lemur baby cute 
June 5, 2012
Goo-Goo-Gorillas Have Their Own Kind Of Baby Talk

“Do you want to play wiv mummy? Wocka-wocka-woo?” said the gorilla. Well, not quite, but older gorillas have been found to use a modified system of gestures when communicating with infants. Much like “motherese”, the baby talk human parents use when talking to their children, the gorillas’ special gestures may help the infants to develop their own communication skills.

Eva Maria Luëfand Katja Liebalof the Free University of Berlin in Germany monitored 24 captive lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) for four months, focusing on the gestures they used to start and stop play. Typically, gorillas might encourage play by slapping others while making a “play face”, for instance, or somersaulting, and end bouts by placing a hand on the other gorilla’s head. With infants, every older gorilla used more touch-based gestures and repeated their gestures more.

No other apes have been seen modifying their signals for infants, although rhesus macaques do change one call when directing it at infants. But Luëf suspects that all great apes can do it. The adults could be encouraging the infants to develop their gesturing, saysRichard Byrne of the University of St Andrews, UK.

Gorillas have to learn how best to use their repertoire of gestures. That takes practice, and possibly help from older gorillas. “I think it’s very likely that’s what’s going on,” Byrne says.

From newscientist.com

6:39pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z8EaJxMp5dx3
(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: Ape Primate Gorilla Baby Young language Culture Gestures 
March 12, 2012

A baby Gorilla (named Tiny) takes his first few steps. 

10:57am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z8EaJxHsyaKx
(Notes: 15)
  
Filed under: Gorilla Ape Primate Baby Cute 
February 10, 2012
Silvery Langur Baby Swings Into Santa Ana Zoo

The Santa Ana Zoo in Prentice Park is pleased to announce the birth of a Silvery Langur (Trachypithecus cristatus) on the 31st of January, 2012. The proud parents are Oliver and Daria. The yet to be named baby is the second offspring of this pair. Mom, dad and baby can be found at home in the primate area at the zoo.

Bright orange at birth with pale skin, over the first three to five months of life Silvery Langurs change to a grayish coat with a darker face and hands, and eventually weighing up to fifteen pounds.  Silvery Langurs are at home in the dense tropical forests of Indonesia and Malaysia where they are considered near threatened with a decreasing population mostly due to land clearance, often for palm oil plantations. Silvery Langurs are specialist leaf eaters with a digestive system adapted to ferment the tough cellulose material in leaves.  With a diet high in vegetation, Langurs will sit quietly for many hours digesting their food.   

From ZooBorns

5:27pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z8EaJxGBm4NH
(Notes: 5)
  
Filed under: Langur Monkey Primate Baby Newborn Cute 
January 24, 2012
Mugwai And Gremlin Welcome Their First-Born!

Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne, U.K. is proud to announce the arrival of a baby Lar Gibbon born to mother Mugwai and father Gremlin on Thursday 5th January 2012. Mother and Baby are doing very well. Section Leader of Primates, Steve Goodwin says, “This is the first baby for Mugwai, but she is proving to be a really good mum. We haven’t been able to get close enough to sex the baby yet, and we’re excited to find out if it is a boy or a girl.”

Also known as a White-headed Gibbon, this endangered species is threatened in the wild by habitat destruction, the illegal pet trade, and poaching.

From ZooBorns

4:57pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z8EaJxFIEovS
(Notes: 31)
  
Filed under: Ape Lesser Ape Gibbon Primate Baby Born 
January 21, 2012
Baby Bonobo Born At Twycross Zoo!

Twycross Zoo is pleased to announce the birth of an extremely important baby Bonobo! In the early hours of Friday 6th January 2012, Maringa gave birth to a baby girl weighing in at a very healthy 1.44 kilograms after an eight and a half month pregnancy. 

Charlotte Macdonald, Living Collection Curator, said: “When keepers arrived at the enclosure to find Maringa had given birth, they noticed the baby was strong and alert but not actually on mum. She was being kept warm and safe by another female Bonobo within the group. 

“Maringa has had difficulty raising her young in the past therefore we have been planning for this birth in conjunction with the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) since last summer. Donna Smithson, one of our Bonobo keepers, visited Frankfurt Zoo last year to observe how they trained one of their female bonobos to be a foster mum, in the event that Maringa showed no interest in the newborn.” Charlotte said.

Diatou, the newborn’s auntie, has been specifically chosen to become the baby’s foster mum. Keepers have been training Diatou in the hope that she will hold the baby and look after the baby as the mother would do.

Charlotte added: “Keepers plan to care for the baby until she is a little bit older and not reliant on two-hourly feeds. When the newborn is returned to the group, Diatou will become the mother in all aspects but feeding - Diatou is being trained to bring the baby to the mesh of the enclosure in order for keepers to feed the baby.

“Although an anxious time for both keepers and staff at Twycross, following the months of preparation we have put into this birth we are very hopeful the introduction of the baby into the bonobo group will go smoothly.” 

The new arrival has been living behind the scenes within the bonobo enclosure since her birth and will remain off-show until she is ready to join the group. This arrangement was made to ensure the infant becomes familiar with the smells and the vocalisations of other bonobos. Her father, Kakowet, and soon-to-be foster mum, Diatou, have shown a great deal of interest in the baby girl and will sit and watch her for long periods of time. Maringa is also doing very well and suffered no complications from the birth. 

From ZooBorns

10:07am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z8EaJxF6qMGZ
(Notes: 45)
  
Filed under: Primate Ape Bonobo Birth Young Baby