Monkey Moves

In the last few months, we have seen many changes in the San Diego Zoo’s Lost Forest zone, not the least of which is the reappearance of some old friends. A few years ago, we said goodbye to some monkey residents when they moved to another area of the Zoo. At the beginning of June, we saw a flurry of monkey moves, and Allen’s swamp monkeys Koni, Marbelina, Murrie, and their family, plus Schmidt’s spot-nosed guenons Patty and Abu, are back! They are currently having a blast in our lower exhibit just west of the hippos while the previous tenants, Allen’s swamp monkeys Msafiri, Jaribu, Sitawi, and Ota, were moved to our upper exhibit.

It was a sad day when swamp monkeys Mr. Toad, Bunzi, Karen, Makonnen, and Kinah had to leave the upper exhibit, but plans for an international trip are in the works for them! Although off exhibit now, Mr. Toad and family are enjoying a “room with a view” at our Primate Propagation Center until shipment plans are in place.

As for the 14 monkeys now living in this part of Lost Forest, life has certainly been exciting! All of these moves were completed in just two days, which certainly put our training program to the test! Hard work and cooperative monkeys paid off, and everyone is adjusting very well to their new digs, especially our lively youngsters, Shaba, Layla, Deiriai, and Kasai. And just when things were starting to settle down, Marbelina gave birth to yet another baby, bringing our grand total to five kids under the age of three! With our three adult swamp monkeys outnumbered, spot-nosed guenons Abu and Patty are often seen keeping this kindergarten entertained. To better understand the dynamics in the lower exhibit, I’d like to introduce some of them:

Schmidt’s spot-nosed guenon Patty is our oldest resident at 25 years old. Although she is very tolerant and protective of the kids, she spends the majority of her day lounging around in the bamboo climbing structure. Spot-nosed guenon Abu, on the other hand, is a frisky 15-year-old male and spends most of his day entertaining the kids. It’s a wonderful sight to watch Abu patiently snack on treats while four young swamp monkeys mob him for leftovers. He is very active and probably our most visible monkey in the exhibit. One of his favorite pastimes includes rocking a swing at the top of the bamboo structure. He doesn’t sit IN the swing though; he reserves that for one or two of the swamp monkey kids!

Our adult male swamp monkey, Koni, is a favorite to many people who watched him grow up here at the San Diego Zoo, starting in the Children’s Zoo nursery! He was born in 1998 via c-section and spent the first few months at the nursery. He was successfully reintroduced to his family and grew up in this area. He’s lived in both upper and lower exhibits and knew right where all the best hiding spots were as soon as he came back. Having grown up with African spotted-necked otters, Koni is often seen playing with the otters that share this exhibit. Quick as lightening, he can grab an otter right out of the water! Don’t worry about the otters, though; they get Koni back by sneaking up for a quick goose when he’s not paying attention!

Next up is 11-year-old Marbelina. She came to the San Diego Zoo as an adult and has given birth to six babies! (Read a post about Marbelina, Kinah Meets the Troop). The last baby, Walialu, was born in late June and is just now taking his first few steps away from Mom while on exhibit. Marbie is missing her right rear leg from an injury she sustained at just three months of age. With the addition of a few ladders, Marbelina doesn’t miss out on any of the action on exhibit. She is our dominant female, and three of the five kids out there are hers! Our hopes were originally to introduce another swamp monkey favorite to this group: Kinah! (Read Swamp Monkey Checks Out Visitors.) But although Koni and Marbie are her biological parents, Koni didn’t recognize Kinah as one of his. To prevent Kinah from possibly being injured, the decision was made to keep her with her adoptive parents for now.

Next up, we have another adult female, 10-year-old Murrie. She came to us as a frisky 2-year-old and is now Mom to our two girls, Layla and Deiriai. A few years ago, Murrie sustained a nasty bite on the hand. The injury turned severe pretty quickly, and Murrie’s left hand was amputated. She made a full recovery and shows no signs of slowing down! Murrie is most often seen sitting in the climbing structure grooming her oldest daughter, Layla. Murrie actually gave birth to both of her girls the last time she was living in this area, and we are happy to have them all back with us.

Layla, our oldest juvenile, was born in August of 2006 (read Baby Swamp Monkey). She reminds me a lot of her mom: brave and defiant! Layla often leads the group during the hot afternoon pool time. She loves the water and is often seen diving in the pool right under guest viewing!

Our second-oldest swamp monkey kid is Shaba. He was born here May 2007, quickly teaming up with Layla to wreck havoc! Shaba is a very independent boy who loves to hang out with his best buddy, Abu. If trouble is brewing, Shaba and Abu seem to always be right in the middle of it.

Next in line is Murrie’s other little girl, Deiriai. Born September 2007, she spent just a few months here before the troop left. Deiriai is a very sweet little girl, but due to an altercation with another monkey, spent some time at the Zoo’s hospital (see Deiriai the Swamp Monkey) As a result of the hospital staff’s excellent care and attention, Deiriai is much friendlier to people than some of our other wild kids. I’m happy to say that our little girl made a full recovery and hasn’t looked back! Although a full year younger than her sister, Dee is always right where the action is.

Our second-to-last little guy is 1-year-old Kasai. He’s still adjusting to not being the “baby” anymore. Since Marbie is busy with her new infant, Kasai spends a lot of time with dad Koni. It’s heartwarming to see how good Koni is with all of his kids, and especially with little Kasai. This small tyke may be the bravest kid in the bunch, however, and is the first to run up to keepers for snacks! Kasai’s natural boy instincts also have him trying to keep up with his older brother, Shaba, and their rock-star big buddy, Abu.

This leaves us with our brand-new little boy, Walialu. Marbie gave birth late in the day on June 29, 2009, while still on exhibit. By the time we brought her into the bedroom, Wali was staring at everything and everyone around him. He hasn’t been with us long, but everyone has already fallen madly in love with this little guy and is sad to hear he will be leaving. If all goes as planned, Marbelina, Wali, Kasai, and Koni are scheduled to go to Metro Richmond Zoo in Virginia sometime in October. Marbelina has been on loan to the San Diego Zoo, and it’s time for her to head home. In exchange, we’ll hopefully be welcoming a new male to take the place of Koni. We’ll be busy yet again while everyone gets settled down, but as always, I’ll keep you posted!

Nerissa Foland is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

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