ZooBorns

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 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.

Wobbly Little Langur Monkey Steps Outside With Mom

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.

Photo Credit: ZSL London Zoo

Bright Orange Baby For Taronga!

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.

Photo credits: Ric Stevens

Bottle-feeding A Baby Silver Leaf Monkey

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.

Photo credits: Zoological Society of San Diego

More pictures beneath the fold...

Little Langurs Swing into Australia

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. 

Learn and see more below the fold.

The Joy of Parenthood: Little Langur Monkey Swings into Cleveland

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.

Photo credits: Cleveland MetroParks Zoo

More photos below the fold...

Little Langur Swoops into Mesker Park Zoo

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. 

San Fran's Francois' Langur Babies say, "Hi!"

On September 7, 2010, animal keepers at the San Francisco Zoo were greeted by a wonderful and unexpected new addition -- the birth of an infant François’ Langur. Then, on Thursday, September 23, 2010 another infant was born, this one was planned through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan. The two vibrant orange-headed infants were welcomed with open arms by the rest of the langur group and both mothers and newborns are doing incredibly well.

Photo Credits: Paul Chamberlain

Neo-Natal Care for a Growing Monkey

Taronga Zoo staff are celebrating the birth of a bright orange, endangered Francois Langur, the first to be raised by its mother in Australia. The male infant, named ‘Gan Ju’ meaning orange in Mandarin was born to mother, ‘Saigon’, and father, ‘Hanoi’ and discovered in the early morning of Thursday 22 April by the Zoo’s dedicated keeping staff who had been monitoring the pregnancy.

Photo Credit: Lorinda Taylor / Taronga Zoo

A bequest left by the late Jacqueline Crookston, enabled the Taronga Wildlife Hospital to purchase a much needed digital x-ray machine, and when the Zoo's veterinary team tested out the new equipment they were delighted to see an astonishingly clear image of the unborn ‘Gan Ju’ steadily growing inside its mother.

Baby Boom Continues at Bronx Zoo

The Bronx Zoo recently announced two very special additions to its family – a new baby brown collared lemur in the zoo’s Madagascar! exhibit and a baby silver leaf langur in JungleWorld.  Both recently born at WCS’s Bronx Zoo, and both are special species as there are less than 50 of each in captivity world wide.

hard to spot in all this fur, but this little lemur is clinging tight to Mom!

The silver leaf langur baby has a striking orange color in comparison to its parents’ silver coats and will continue to stand out until its fur changes color somewhere between three to five months of age.

Photo Credits: Julie Larsen Maher © Wildlife Conservation Society