Generous Nature
Posted at 10:48 am March 6, 2007 by Juan Fernandez
On December 13, 2006, our adult female siamang Eloise gave birth to her new baby. Now just about three months old, little Karim-Alam, meaning “generous nature,” was named in honor of all the generous members who have donated funds to the Heart of the Zoo project.
Karim-Alam appears to be the fifth female offspring parented by mom Eloise, now 25 years old, and dad Unkie, now 23. Siamangs will form monogamous breeding pairs throughout most of their lives, producing offspring regularly every three to five years. Co-parenting is important in the siamang social structure and at about a year of age the male’s responsibilities increase by physically carrying the youngster on a more regular basis. Big sister Hitam Lucu, who is turning three this month, is very curious about the newborn and frequently attempts to interact with Karim-Alam.
Although it will be several months before Karim-Alam is allowed to be away from mom, she is very active in the comfort of Eloise’s arms, bouncing around and visually following big sister Hitam Lucu as she brachiates throughout the exhibit. Karim-Alam is changing daily, becoming stronger and more agile trying to grasp on to different toys the siamangs have in their bedrooms. Her lower teeth are just now starting to be visible and she regularly attempts to put items of food in her mouth. Although Karim-Alam’s precocious attempts at food tasting are apparent, it will be several months before she starts eating solid foods.
Satu, our 11-year-old male orangutan, is also very interested in the new addition. (Read a blog about Satu, The Next Orangutan To Go Out.) I’m assuming they are going to get along just fine since he and Hitam Lucu are the best of friends. It is going to be a rare and genuine treat to see Karim-Alam develop her own relationships with our orangutan friends. Karim-Alam can be seen each afternoon in the Absolutely Apes exhibit or on Ape Cam.
Juan Fernandez is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.
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March 6th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Congratulations on the new Siamang addition! Can’t wait to see them. Is Hitam Lucu going to stay with her parents and her little baby sister for much longer or will you have to separate them soon?
March 6th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Juan, could you tell me the life span of a siamang and how long will Eloise be able to have offspring. She has such a sweet face and seems to be a wonderful loving mother
March 6th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Thanks for the update, Juan.
How many of Eloise’s offspring are at SDZ with her? Just the two females? Do you move the males to other zoos as part of the SSP and CRES program? I think I read that Siamangs stay together as a family group for life, so it is interesting to know how many of them you plan to keep there, or send elsewhere. How do you introduce new Siamang members to the family if the genetic pool is to be expanded as it is in other species. If they are monogomous it would be likely that Unkie would not be interested in any other female that Eloise?? Are all 5 of Eloise’s offspring also Unkie’s offspring, or did she have another mate prior to Unkie?
Sorry for all the questions, it is just fascinating to me to know how the different primates operate in their social groups.
It is curious that the Orangutans and Siamangs get along so well. Do Cinta and Hitam hang out together or just Satu and Hitam?
They all seem to have a great time chasing each other. I noticed a small Siamang and an Orangutan playing in the climbing structure yesterday afternoon. It was like a race to see who would get there first, and catch me if you can. Since the Siamang was very small I presume it was Hitam. The Orangutan was relatively much larger. Would it likely have been Satu? It appeared to be larger than Cinta.
March 7th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Can we get more updates about Janey and all the orangutans…I miss reading about all of them!
March 9th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
I will post a blog next week to answer most of the questions from the comments section. Thank you for the interest in the blog.
Keeper Juan