In Cocha Cashu, sometimes you focus on the bad: the oppressive heat, the mosquitoes, the lurking fear of the unknown. We were welcomed to Estación Biológica Cocha Cashu (EBCC) with record-breaking heat (see previous post, A Walk in the Woods with John Terborgh). The mercury soared to 96 degrees Fahrenheit (36 degrees Celsius) on our second day. That may not sound that hot, but put yourself in a terrarium at 90 plus and you’ll know what I mean.
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Let’s put this into context: exactly 20 years ago, I picked up a copy of John Terborgh’s Five New World Primates. I was a first-year graduate student in the animal behavior graduate group at the University of California, Davis, about to begin my studies of titi monkeys at the Davis Primate Center. (Finding myself drawn to field biology, I later decided to work with some local nature – ground squirrels and rattlesnakes – for my dissertation.) Before even breaking the binding of the book, I studied the rich illustration on the cover depicting titi, spider, howler, and capuchin monkeys in a dark primeval forest. I longed to work in the field with wild primates, and as I began to turn the pages, a whole new world opened up to me. This place, as John Terborgh described, was magical: ancient, intact, and untouched. Here, even most of the indigenous people are “uncontacted,” living with almost no knowledge of the outside world. This, it seemed, was what I really wanted – an adventure in a true wilderness.
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Vila has long been a favorite of visitors and staff at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park. She is one of the three oldest known gorillas living today, and we had a birthday party for her on Wednesday, October 28. We wrapped presents full of fruit, nuts, and seeds for the entire troop, and Vila enjoyed a peanut-butter frosted banana ice cake topped with carrot “candles.” The gorilla exhibit was decorated with flowers, ginger leaves, colorful streamers, and “Happy Birthday” signs stuck to rocks with peanut butter. See video
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Life in the troop has certainly had an incredible impact on little Frank’s social development, but even more impressive is the impact it has had on Frank’s family. Back when Frank was born and we realized we were going to have to intervene at some level, we had many candid discussions about how best to raise this kid, without hampering his true “gorilla skills.”
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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.
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The silver-leaf langur babies at the San Diego Zoo are doing very well (see previous post, Langurs: Bright Orange Babies). Tevy’s baby, born on February 26, 2009, is almost all silver with only a little bit of orange left. Adamena’s baby, born on April 13, is still mostly orange. The babies play together throughout the day. I have seen them climbing around and jumping from one branch to the next. They will swing around on branches, holding on with one hand, and hang upside down.
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We have a troop of six lion-tailed macaques (one male and five females) at the San Diego Zoo. They have a beautiful habitat on the Sun Bear Trail in the Asian Passage zone. These energetic monkeys are very entertaining to watch: they love ripping boxes and bags open to see what’s inside, like opening a present. The troop likes to keep busy, so we provide enrichment for them at least three times a day.
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I just wanted to update everyone on the San Diego Zoo’s Gabrielle’s crested (or red-cheeked) gibbon, Gaby, and her new roommate, Chui (see post, Gibbon: New Home for Gaby). He arrived on May 8, is seven years old, and is Gaby’s baby brother! Gaby and Chui lived with their parents and other siblings at the Wild Animal Park. When Gaby was four, she left her younger brother to come to the Zoo; now, almost five years later, they are back together again.
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You may think most newborn monkeys would blend in with their mothers. However, with silver-leaf langurs it is quite the opposite: their babies are a beautiful bright orange! There are several theories as to why this is; unfortunately, it is unknown which theory is accurate.

Theory 1: It makes it easy for the mothers to find them, as young langurs like to explore. They can sometimes travel a little too far away from their mothers. Being bright orange, their mothers can easily spot and retrieve them.
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Installment #6
Read Installment #5, Little Guenon, Big Step

By early March 2009, Gigi was making the transition to Wolf’s guenon life well. She was obviously fully accepted by devoted sister Mimi, tolerated by her stoic father, and her older brother Dru was as gentle and tolerant as we could reasonably hope for. Things were not perfectly harmonious, though. There were times when Gigi’s mom, Fifi, would show some behavior that was concerning to us.
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