A black and orange baby arrived at the San Francisco Zoo in synch with the baseball Giants' playoff success. The good luck baby is a female Francois' Langur Monkey. She is the 17th of her kind to be born at the zoo since 1985. San Fransisco is one of the most successful zoos at breeding this rare monkey, of which only around 2000 remain in the wild.
Parenting duties are shared amongst females in the Langur group. This gives mom a break and allows the infant's aunts and sisters to gain valuable mothering experience. The baby will remain orange and black for the next three to sixth months.
Howletts Wild Animal Park has officially welcomed a bright new addition to their Javan Langur Monkey group. These are the first pictures of the adorable apricot infant, born last month and named Malang. Head Primate Keeper Matt Ford said: "Malang is doing very well and it’s great to see her out and about with the family group."
Javan Langurs are listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red list of endangered species and they face the same threats as other primates in Asia, including loss of habitat and hunting. The brightly colored primates are not often seen in wild animal parks but Howletts and Port Lympne are collectively home to over 50 individuals. Animal Director, Neil Spooner said: ‘We have one of the largest collections of Javan Langurs outside Indonesia and have had over 100 births since the early 1980’s. Our Javan Primate Project just outside MaIang, Indonesia launched at the end of last year. The conservation project is rescuing primates from the illegal pet trade and rehabilitating them, so that they can be reintroduced to areas of the wild that we protect – Malang is a very fitting name for our latest langur birth."
Photo Credit: Dave Rolfe/Howletts Wild Animal Park
Read more about the Langur's coloring below the jump:
The Santa Ana Zoo in California was delighted by the birth of their second Silvery Langur (Trachypithecus cristatus) this year. Born on the February 22, the baby and its parents, Ripley and Oliver, are doing just fine. This bright orange baby monkey joins the Zoo’s other baby Langur, who was born on January 31 (as covered by ZooBorns)! Both babies share the same father but have different moms.
“Visitors have been flabbergasted to see two orange babies instead of one,” says Kent Yamaguchi, Zoo Director. The January tyke has already started to venture away from its mother... and has been seen investigating this new addition to the family. Zoos are important places where people can learn about the need to conserve these amazing creatures."
Silvery Langur monkeys are born bright orange and turn silver-gray starting at about three to five months old. Mature Silvery Langurs weigh around 15 pounds when fully grown. In the wild, this monkey lives in the tropical forests of Indonesia and Malaysia where they are threatened by deforestation.
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 weigh 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.
Photo credits: Ethan Fisher
The Santa Ana Zoo has housed Silvery Langurs since 1984, and holds the longevity record for this species with a female reaching over 35 years of age. This birth at the Santa Ana Zoo and was a collaborative effort with Species Survival Plan Program through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The mission of the AZA Species Survival Plan Programs is to manage and conserve select threatened or endangered, ex situ populations through the cooperation of AZA-accredited Zoos and Aquariums.
The new baby is on view for the public daily between 10:00AM and 4:00PM at the Santa Ana Zoo in Prentice Park, 1801 Chestnut Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92701.
There’s a bright new addition at ZSL London Zoo – a neon orange baby monkey. And Zooborns first introduced you to the baby HERE.
Keepers at the Zoo were delighted when first-time mum Lu Lu, a rare Francois Langur, gave birth to the flame-haired baby in early September. Baby Tango's hair will gradually become black like Mom and Dad's when the baby is about six months old. In the mean time, it makes the baby even easier to see when out in their habitat.
Francois Langurs are one of the world’s rarest monkeys, and originate from northeast Vietnam and China. Classed as critically endangered, their populations are declining rapidly because of habitat loss.
Taronga’s Primate keepers have been busy with the arrival of another Francois Leaf-monkey infant! He is the second bright orange monkey to be born this year at Taronga and is great news for the zoo's breeding program as the species is on the cusp of extinction. Sadly there may be as few as 1000 left in the wild.
The male infant, named ‘Tam Dao’ after a National Park located in Vietnam north of Hanoi, was born to mother, ‘Meili’ and father ‘Hanoi’ and found cradled in its mother’s arms in the early morning of Saturday 20 August by zoo keepers who had been monitoring the pregnancy.
A one-week-old Silver Leaf monkey is benefiting from a little human care at the San Diego Zoo. The female named "Thai" was born on July 3 to a first-time mother. Unfortunately Thai's mother was not holding the newborn in a way that allowed her to nurse naturally, so animal care staff intervened and are bottle-feeding the baby several times each day. The small, orange monkey continues to spend time with her family between feedings so that social bonds remain strong.
ZooBorns was seeing double today when two Australian zoos shared pictures of their new langur babies within minutes of one another. Taronga Zoo announced the birth of an endangered, bright orange Francois Leaf Monkey, the first to be raised by its mother in Australia. The male infant was born to mother, ‘Saigon’, and father, ‘Hanoi’, and discovered cradled in its mother’s arms in the early morning of Saturday 30 January by zoo keepers who had been monitoring the pregnancy.
Taronga Zoo Primate Keeper, Roxanne Pellat, said: “Obviously we were all very relieved when we discovered Keo-co cradled in Saigon’s arms. He had been licked clean, was warm, alert and the two adult females began sharing the role of caring for him. This is exactly what we hoped to see as this birth is particularly significant.”
Meanwhile at the Adelaide Zoo, three-time Dusky Leaf Monkey mom, Flier, gave birth to a healthy little girl, who is already proving to be a very mischievous, cheeky monkey... she is in to everything and is always trying to go off exploring, meaning Flier is constantly chasing after her. She will lose that brilliant coloring by the time she's three months and will begin to turn grey to match the rest of her family.
Dusky Leaf Monkeys or Dusky Langurs are native to Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand. In the wild the species is under threat from hunting for food, as is habitat loss and degradation due to expanding oil palm plantations, agriculture, and urbanization. In Peninsular Malaysia the animals are frequent victims of road-kill.
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo announced the birth of a baby Francois’ Langur on January 25, 2011. Just like human infants, baby primates can often be demanding little bundles of joy, as evidenced in these pictures. The sex of the baby is yet to be determined, but the noisy little orange furball is currently on exhibit in The RainForest with mother Petunia, father Ike and brother Maynard, who was born in April 2009. Lucky for mom, two other adult females in the Zoo’s Langur group -- Mei Mei and Leilu -- share in the parenting duties as they would in the wild.
Longtime ZooBorns readers will know what a bright orange baby monkey means... a newborn Francois' Langur! Mesker Park Zoo is proud to announce the November 26th birth of a little male to mother Liang. The orange bundle of joy is held constantly by either Liang or Sai, another female langur in the collection, even when he clearly wants to go adventuring, as in the video below.
Francois’ Langurs are endangered leaf-eating monkeys found in the forests of Vietnam, Laos, and China. Over the last 20 years the Langur population has decreased by a shocking 85%, primarily due to hunting. Interestingly, these monkeys typically live on limestone cliffs where they prefer to sleep in caves if available. There are only about seventy Francois Langurs in fourteen North American Zoos, seven of them found at Mesker Park Zoo.
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