Although it would not be uncommon for a mature male siamang to practice infanticide with his own species in the wild, it was a new concept to be considered in this atypical mixed-species social setting. Even though siamangs and orangutan are completely different species, they are occupying one common territory that is exhibit space. Was Cinta, an unrelated newborn in an already established social group, viewed as future competition? We don’t really know.

Cinta with mom, Indah; Eloise with Karim-Alam

Cinta, who turns four on March 5, 2008, and has grown to a whopping 31 pounds (14 kilograms)—about the same size as our adult siamangs—was allowed to spend time with the siamang family off exhibit. A hallway that separates the two species became Cinta’s playgroup. This allowed him to move back and forth between his mom’s room and the siamang family at his own determination. These daily interactions continued several days during the week and lasted for about a month. Cinta became more and more comfortable and spent an increasing amount of time building a relationship with the siamang group on his own accord. Once keepers and the staff were confident that Cinta was ready to meet the siamang family in full contact, we set a date.

Karen with a young siamang

On January 2, 2008, keepers shifted three male and three female orangutans, including Indah and Cinta, onto exhibit as usual. The next step was to shift Unkie’s oldest offspring, Hitam Lucu. This was key. Having Hitam Lucu on exhibit without the other siamangs gave Cinta more confidence to explore the exhibit and have one-on-one interaction with Hitam Lucu. After a few hours with no altercations between Cinta and Hitam Lucu, the rest of the siamang family was allowed to go out. This process was repeated for a few more days. Each day we decreased the time intervals between when we put Hitam Lucu and the siamang family back together. This increased the time they spent grooming each other after the controlled separation, resulting in less time focusing their attention and aggressions on Cinta after they were all on exhibit. This was the secret to their success.

Today you can watch Cinta tumbling around with his two new siamang friends: four-year-old Hitam Lucu and one-year-old sibling Karim-Alam at our Absolutely Apes Exhibit.

Juan Fernandez is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.
Read his previous blog, Growing Up Siamang.
Watch the orangutans and siamangs daily on Ape Cam…

Tango and Mweezi were born August 12, 1992, at the San Diego Zoo. They were relocated to the Wild Animal Park at an early age and were housed with each other. At one point, Tango was bred and produced a litter of three cubs in 1995. Unfortunately, the cubs had to be taken away and hand-reared because Tango wasn’t caring for them properly. As far as I know, she has never been bred since. In 2002, the girls were brought back to the San Diego Zoo, where they have been ever since.

The average lifespan of lions is 10 to 15 years in the wild and up to 30 years in managed-care facilities. With this in mind, Mweezi and Tango may only be middle aged!

Do they interact with any other lions? No, they are the only lions we have at the Zoo. A delightful pride of two!

Hali Anderson is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

The duty list for the hospital at the San Diego Zoo that day was quite impressive. The reason: there would be four vets working hospital cases (checking patients that are coming to the hospital) and one vet working grounds cases (checking patients that are on Zoo grounds). As hospital keepers, we were ready for a busy day.

First, we had to bring in the flamingo that had a heart murmur. As a hospital keeper held him for a vet check, the koala arrived for his annual exam and radiographs. That’s when we received the call that lioness Mweezi was on her way to the hospital for her annual physical, already darted and asleep, and help would be needed to lift her out of the van and onto the examination table. Once the lioness was stable and on the table, we saw the reptile keeper go in the room with the Gaboon viper (only reptile keepers handle the venomous reptiles). Then another vet needed help getting the fossa out of the crate and anesthetizing it for its exam. All this going on and it wasn’t even 10 a.m. yet!

Once all the examination tables were full and the vets were working with their cases, we were able to continue with the patients that are temporarily housed at the hospital. The hornbill needed its medication, the bowsprit tortoises needed to be separated to receive their medication, the fishing cat in quarantine needed a fecal sample to be collected, and I had to find the right radio station for the fig parrot in the bird quarantine room (he likes his music).

Every once in awhile we check in with the vets to see if they need us at that moment or find out when they’ll need us. The lioness was going to need to be turned over shortly and the fossa’s footpads were so cute a paw print was wanted. One thing we are is versatile, and variety makes the job much more enjoyable!

So next time I respond that my day was “oh, the usual,” you might want to get the details!

Yvette Kemp is a senior hospital keeper at the San Diego Zoo

These separations are beneficial for several reasons. First, a gradual separation from the dam allows the cub to adjust to time alone, preparing her for future housing as an independent animal. Some sun bears prefer to be housed this way as adults; Ting Ting, now residing at the Oakland Zoo, seemed happy to be housed jointly with Marcella (a female) but less thrilled about the presence of Dibu (a male).

Additionally, a separation time each day enables the keepers to feed both Bulan and Marcella some food without worrying about who eats what. This has become an important issue for Marcella, who finds that as her cub ages she competes heavily for the food provided to the pair. Marcella, while still lactating, can find herself with less and less food to eat as her cub consumes more and more. Thus, separating them allows Marcella to get a guaranteed quantity of food without interference from Bulan.

One final reason to wean Bulan from her mother: she has a new home waiting for her as soon as she is ready. The Minnesota Zoo is home to a male sun bear that is in need of a healthy mate. Since the Bornean subspecies is in dire straits, suffering from only two births in U.S. zoos since the 1990s, Bulan’s role as a prospective breeder is a very important one. Hopefully she can successfully breed and rear young in Minnesota in the near future.

By the same token, once weaning is complete we will again pair Marcella with Bulan’s father, Dibu. After the weaning of Danum, our first Bornean cub, Marcella experienced an estrus rather quickly. However, it may have been an infertile estrus, as no cub was born from couplings of our breeding pair. However, Marcella’s second estrus was clearly fertile, as Bulan was born about 100 days later. Hopefully the only successfully reproducing pair in the U.S. can replicate its past performance and provide the Bornean population with another cub in 2008!

Bulan will continue to be on exhibit with her mother for some time each day for the next month or so. If you want to catch them together, come soon! At some point after weaning is complete we will know more about the timeline for Bulan’s move to Minnesota. Before she leaves, come enjoy this beautiful little bear and wish her well as she prepares for the next phase of her life.

Suzanne Hall is a senior research technician with the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Unit.

After cleaning the boys’ exhibit in the morning, I usually hide their fish all around for them to find. As soon as I start placing the fish I can hear the loud, deep breaths of highly sensitive brown bear noses behind the big metal door of their holding pen. They can hardly wait to get out there and “hunt” for their favorite food. Then, after I release Scout and Montana back out to exhibit, it’s a race between them to see who can find the most fish first. It’s a good lesson in using their olfactory skills, since the fish are often stuck into crevices or under objects, making the discovery quite a challenge. Scout, the little devil, has taken to dangling his fish finds in front of Montana and instigating an intimidating screaming and punching match that resonates throughout Bear Canyon. I’m still not sure why Scout continues to do this as Montana usually always makes out with the fish! That’s okay though, there’s plenty to go around.

Another new development is that Montana has learned to swim. And I don’t just mean splash around in the pool, we’re talking a full-on doggie paddle. This will come in handy once we start putting live fish into the pool for them to catch. Scout has also been seen paddling with his front legs, but still seems to keep his rear legs planted. Maybe Montana will teach him soon!

Coming up with new enrichment ideas continues to be a keeper challenge, but I will forever be researching and attempting new items. The boys are avid nest builders, so giving them plenty of things to shred in order to add to their bedding is always fun. New scents and food items are also routine enrichment choices, and we have a few new “toys” in the works. But, perhaps their most favorite activity of all is romping around and wrestling with each other and doing “mock” battles. Keep visiting the babies as they grow and learn; you are sure to be entertained!

Hali Anderson is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

We also encounter monkeys of various species every few hours, including the crowned guenon Cercopithecus pogonias, and the putty-nosed guenon Cercopithecus nictitans. Interestingly, many of the monkeys we are currently seeing are solitary males, which is unusual since they usually travel in groups. There are currently very few forest fruits available for primates to eat; it is the height of the dry season (particularly severe this year), and it is possible that the males are finding it more productive to forage alone, rather than in larger groups with more competition for fruit.

Old chimpanzee nest

One wonderful surprise during these surveys has been the sheer number of chimpanzee signs we have encountered; in two weeks of surveying, we have found no fewer than 23 groups of nests. The nests have been of varying ages, of course, from freshly built, with leaves still green and fresh feces on the ground nearby (which we collect for genetic and fecal analyses), to much older, disintegrating nests, where only careful observation can identify the carefully twisted branches that once formed a perfect mattress.

During the first week of the survey, we bumped into a man. It turned out that he was a trapper, following a path to check his traps (snares). He was as surprised as us and at first tried to keep away from us, fearing that we were forest guards. But we were able to calm him down and ended up enjoying a friendly conversation with him. He was about 50 years old, spoke only in the local language of Banen (not a word of English or French, the official languages of Cameroon), and from what we could see, was not having a very successful day. He told us of his village, where he has lived all his life, and his family, and explained that he was mostly subsistence hunting to provide food for his family. Rarely, if he trapped something of value and he could find a buyer, he would sell the animal to a bushmeat trader, but this was uncommon.

We then spoke to him about the fact that the Ebo Forest was soon to be a national park and what that will mean for his activities (he will not be able to enter the area without authorization). He realizes that his trapping will have to stop and instead he intends to concentrate on farming. He then told us a story: four years ago, as he was working in his farm where he grows plantains and other foods for his family, he was clearing away dense undergrowth to plant more vegetables when a hunter, mistaking him for an animal, shot him in the upper body with a shotgun. He then showed us his scarred face and assured us that he would never carry a gun. It is a sad fact that hunting injuries are all too common in rural areas in Cameroon and only exacerbated by the lack of safety consciousness and illegality of gun ownership, which is almost always the case. This sobering tale made us realize the human aspect to hunting; all too often we concentrate on the effects on the wildlife. This sort of story often brings it home to me that the hunters individually are no different in character to any other person and certainly are not worthy of our individual condemnation or contempt.

Finally—did we see elephants? Well, not yet, but that’s not a surprise. The areas we have surveyed are close to both roads and villages, where animal densities are always less due to pressure from hunting. We have seen a few signs of elephant presence: a very old footprint (probably at least four months old) and an old elephant path. This is the first phase of our elephant research in Ebo, and the surveying is scheduled to be complete by the end of June. As I type these words, I have just parted company with the elephant survey team, having been with them for the first few weeks of the survey to guide, supervise, and ensure things were running well and the procedures were all being adhered to. The survey will now continue into more remote regions, further away from the villages and roads, penetrating more deeply into the Ebo Forest. They have a satellite phone for security, and we have organized modes of communication to ensure that safety is of paramount importance. I look forward to mid March, when I will again join them in searching for signs of forest elephants.

Dr. Bethan Morgan is a Central Africa Program specialist with the San Diego Zoo.

The tadpoles were brought to our lab at the San Diego Zoo’s Beckman Center for Conservation Research and separated into 2 50-gallon (227-liter) tanks. From there, the real work began. Water must be monitored daily as water quality is the single most important factor in raising tadpoles. Because tadpoles produce so much ammonia, water changes were made daily. Within a few months, some of the tadpoles, which were collected in seven different areas along the stream, began to sprout legs. We had to quickly build rearing tanks as we knew that the tadpoles would be morphing into froglets at various stages and sometimes in large groups. They did just that! Fed on a diet of different vegetables, algae, and fish foods, the tadpoles soon began to morph into little frogs. Once their tails started to disappear and all four limbs were functioning, the froglets were moved into one of eight rearing tanks.

Jump to today, February 22, 2008. I just finished a water change on the remaining three tadpoles. We have one rearing tank left for these tadpoles. Now I have the task of cleaning up after seven large tanks of hungry frogs. I am proud to say that three of the tanks contain adult frogs already, while the other tanks contain frogs that are well on their way to adulthood. The adults are just starting to be warmed up from their winter cool-down (when breeding many reptiles and amphibians, a cool season is given to emulate winter) and already animals are starting to call and some have even be seen in amplexus (amplexus is the amphibian love hold in which the male grasps hold of the female to fertilize the eggs as they leave the female’s body). No eggs have been seen yet, but we don’t mind them practicing to make it perfect!

We have also just finished a meeting with our conservations partners (U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Game, and the U.S. Forest Service) to develop a strategy for frog reintroductions. Our plan will be to keep the frogs in captivity at the San Diego Zoo and other zoos, and all offspring will be returned to the wild and monitored over time. Stay tuned: things are going to start hopping in the frog lab and hopefully in the wild!!

Jeff Lemm is a research coordinator for the San Diego Zoo’s Applied Animal Ecology Division.

Here’s more information about the mountain yellow-legged frog recovery program…

Since the boys are new to my area, I’m just beginning to learn their different personalities. Zephyr seems to be more forthcoming, usually being the first to approach us or respond to our voices with an inquisitive look. Turbo is a bit more reserved, but will also approach for attention. Even though these two are quite friendly toward their keepers, we will never use our hands to scratch and pet them because they have powerful jaws capable of crushing bones. Instead, we substitute a back scratcher that we push between the bars of their enclosure to give them a good rub down. This is welcomed with great enthusiasm, each hyena stretching his neck this way and that to hit at just the right spot.

Out on exhibit, Turbo and Zephyr enjoy basking in the sun, often snuggled together in their Bermuda hay beds. The exhibit contains a large tree platform that Turbo especially enjoys. Unlike Zephyr, who still appears to be unsure of the platform, Turbo will readily stand at the highest point to survey his surroundings. Neither hyena is at all disturbed by Zoo visitors or bus tour traffic; in fact, they seem to enjoy the stimulating visual and olfactory experiences of an ever-changing crowd. They also take notice of birds flying overhead and siamang and gibbon vocalizations and have been seen sniffing the air often. Contrary to popular belief that hyenas are scavengers, hyenas are actually one of the most common and fierce predators in their native home of Africa. You can only imagine what they’re thinking when mallards land in their pool!

Also in their exhibit is a two-tiered pool complete with a waterfall. Hyenas are great swimmers, and Turbo and Zephyr have already shown their love of water. Zephyr especially has taken up bone-burying duty with the pool being his chosen site. We haven’t figured out the reason yet, but he likes to walk into the pool, drop the bone and then paw at it as if to bury it. When Turbo leaves his bone, Zephyr will often go get it and also bury it in the pool. Some time later, the bones will be out again, usually in bed so the boys can chew at their leisure. One guess has been that the pool might serve to soften the bones after soaking. I have noticed that since this behavior began, less of the bone is left over the next day.

Also called the laughing hyena, spotted hyenas have a variety of vocalizations, the most notorious being a giggling sound similar to human laughter. So far, none of us has heard this yet, but it is my understanding that this noise is produced as a result of fear or nervousness. It can also happen in response to feeling that a food item will be taken away. Since Turbo and Zephyr seem to be best buddies and don’t compete over their food items, we may not hear this noise. However, you never know as new enrichment is introduced if something will cause excitement enough for any of their other vocalizations to escape. So far I’ve heard I’ve heard two of their sounds: one is a low grumbling sound in anticipation of being fed that sounds a lot like a fog horn; the other is a loud “DOOO WHOP” call most often heard in the early morning hours as we arrive. One of my fellow keepers even heard a fancy trilling noise at the end of this call one day. Hopefully, we’ll get to hear more from these guys in the future!

On your next visit to the San Diego Zoo, come see Zephyr and Turbo. You’re sure to be impressed by their unique appearance and interesting behavior. They’ve already won me over!

Hali Anderson is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

Is it the chiming of the carillon in Balboa Park? I have seen her “cock an ear and raise an eyebrow” to acknowledge it before climbing up. Is it when we open the area to visitors each morning? She’s often awake for a bit of time long after. Is it the presence of visitors? Given that the pandas have just about finished their first fresh feeding of the day, I’d suspect that it’s being full and contented and ready to rest and digest. As an aside, though, with so many excited visitors in that small space, it has become noisy from time to time. Bai Yun has reacted to this by vocalizing with a honk, one of a panda’s 11 vocalizations, which appears to indicate mild distress. As the old saying goes, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t NOBODY happy”, and we’ve been quick to quiet the area.

Gao Gao reunites with his bamboo.

The whole crew is doing fine. Gao had his annual physical earlier this week. He was not a happy boy when he had to fast to make his checkup safer for him and compensated the next day with a VERY hearty appetite. We all know how he enjoys his bamboo! Su Lin is following in her half-sister’s footsteps, though, and becoming, uhm - more particular about her bamboo. (Let’s hear it for the browse crew who dedicate their time to keeping the huge crop of bamboo browse growing and thriving and bringing in the pandas’ favorites!)

ZZ keeps testing that one tree guard and still isn’t big enough to cross it. She has found other spots to drape. They probably won’t last too long since these branches aren’t forked and she’s now weighing around 26 pounds (12 kilograms). She and Bai are spending the quality play/teaching time together that is appropriate to this age, although I couldn’t tell you when. With luck, Panda Cam viewers and visitors can watch this as time goes on. I personally can’t wait until dirt-bathing lessons begin!

Ellie Rosenbaum is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo.

When new animals arrive into the collection, they must first be quarantined for 30 days and pass several exams before being released onto grounds. During this time, the hospital keepers really get to know the animals. And the animals we had the opportunity to get to know were five very cute pygmy goats destined for the Zoo’s Children’s Zoo. Their names: Bucky and his sister Honey, Freckles, Fudge, and Socks.

Besides being cute, they are very vocal. And I mean vocal! As soon as they hear someone is in the area, they begin their incessant calling until someone comes over with fresh food and attention. Never mind that there is still food in their dishes; they want attention more than anything.

So occasionally, one of us would “sacrifice” ourselves and go sit with the goats. Yes, it would be a hard job having five little goats come over to you and want to stand on or by you. Quite brutal (she says with a sarcastic smile!). Usually keeper Suzanne would volunteer to “acclimate” the animals. We could hear her laughing hysterically as they all tried to sit in her lap or eat her hair. Must admit they were good therapy.

They have passed their exams and quarantine time and left today to live in the Children’s Zoo. We’ll miss them. But we may just have to visit them soon, just for a short therapy session.

Yvette Kemp is a senior hospital keeper at the San Diego Zoo.