Week 9 Day 2 of 2: "Monkeying" Around

February 28, 2010

For school my homework was to observe two primate species and answer a bunch of questions. So off to the zoo I went. The North Carolina Zoo is located just a few miles outside of Asheboro. It is a decent size zoo with a North American section and an African section. I was exhausted this morning after spending the wee hours of the morning purging my system and thinking I was dying. I will never eat salmon again, although I’ve heard there is a stomach bug going around so maybe that was it. Yuck! I got up later than planned; got to the zoo later than planned. Upon arriving I was on a mission: go straight to the gorilla and chimpanzees, monitor them, and leave. Not the greatest start to an adventure.

I started with the western lowland gorilla. What a lonely guy! Nkosi is the lone gorilla in the exhibit. His two female companions died this past summer of cancer. Apparently there are two more arriving this spring. Nkosi was sleeping when I arrived. There were no other observers around. Let me just add that this was an excellent time of year to go to the zoo. Hardly any people there! He heard me and stirred, sat up, looked at me and turned his back to the glass. He appeared to get annoyed with me and walked away. I followed the trail around to another viewing area. Nkosi looked at me, pulled some grass to eat, and walked away again. I followed back to the previous viewing area. At this point Nkosi got smart and walked to the back of the habitat where there were no viewing areas. About 10 minutes later the zookeeper could be seen at the top of the habitat. Nkosi walked over and sat right in front of the zookeeper waiting. He knew it was feeding time. Nkosi caught the first piece of food and began munching. His diet consisted of carrots, kale, and green peppers. Nkosi loaded up his hand and mouth with food and walked bipedal to a corner. This is interesting, considering that most of the time gorillas are quadrapedal (walk on all fours).

Next I moved on to the chimpanzees. These guys were a little move active. Two of the younger ones wrestled the entire time I watched them (roughly 20 minutes). They had a red blanket that the two of them were fighting over. The adult chimps were busy grooming each other. The chimps seemed to pay no attention to the observers at all. They were much more tuned into each other. However as more people started to file in to see them, the chimps started to wander out of view. The two that had been playing got up left first. The female was leading the male with his finger in her mouth! What a strange and funny sight.

On my way out I happened to pass by the baboons. This was not a planned stop, but turned out to be my favorite. There were roughly 20 Hamadryas Baboons. They were very active. The best part was that there were two baby baboons. They were hysterical. The babies chased, bit, grabbed tails, pulled hair, and pounced on top of each other. I spent the most time here, about an hour, because it was so very entertaining. Every so often a male baboon, who I’m guessing was the father, would intervene with the babies. The parents kept watch over the babies and kept them away from some of the other adult baboons. Most of the other adults spent their time grooming each other.

I took all of the notes I needed and headed home. It is amazing to me how interesting these primates are when you have a little bit of background on them.

As a final note: "Monkeying Around" is a misleading statement. Gorillas and Chimpanzees are in the Ape family and are not monkeys. Baboons are however in the Old World monkey family.

Now for something completely random....When is the last time you saw an Orange Crush sign?