Our little monkey has finally arrived! The keepers in the San Diego Zoo’s Ituri Forest have been anxiously awaiting the birth of our Allen’s swamp monkey Murrie’s first baby. Our wait was finally rewarded August 1, 2006 when we saw Murrie, high up in a tree, holding her tiny infant. Swamp monkey newborns are silver colored, with bright pink faces.

Murrie, for guests that know our swamp monkeys, is the female with just one arm. Her left arm was amputated after complications resulting from a injury and it is the policy of our Zoo to continue to exhibit animals with disabilities, providing them with as natural an environment as possible. Not that having only one arm slows Murrie down one bit! She is just as agile traversing the exhibit as our other monkeys and has established herself as the dominant female in her troop of one male and two other females. Her attitude towards us during the late stages of her pregnancy clearly showed some of this behavior. In the bedrooms when I greeted Murrie, with her impossibly swollen belly, I frequently got an open-mouthed threat thrown back at me! Considering her state and the extreme heat we have been experiencing, I can’t say that I blamed her.

Although Murrie kept some distance from the rest of the troop the day she gave birth, by the next day we witnessed several encounters between the infant and the other members, specifically a female named Karen. Karen would sit very close to Murrie and tentatively reach out to touch the baby. After a few attempts, Murrie allowed Karen to groom the infant for a few minutes. We are hoping that Karen will also become pregnant soon, so observing the postnatal care of the infant is an important lesson for Karen. As anxious as Karen may currently be to play with the infant, I expect she will have her hands full all too soon when this kid starts jumping around the exhibit, using everything and everyone as a means to amusement. There is nothing as joyful as watching a baby monkey bounce about!

Allen’s swamp monkeys live in multimale/multifemale troops in the swampy forests of central Africa. They have partial webbing between their fingers and toes to assist with swimming, and although they are primarily frugivorous (meaning they eat mostly fruit) they also love to catch fish hatchlings and worms from river beds. If you watch our swamp monkeys in their exhibit, they are often playing or lounging down by the water. If you catch them in especially frisky moods, you may see them diving in for a quick dip! Although too young to go swimming just yet, our newest monkey’s sheer cuteness is reason enough to stop by Ituri Forest soon!

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

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