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Central Park Zoo News
Spring Wriggles in at the Zoo
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 Catch a peek of Tana’s little bundle squirming about the Rainforest!
©WCS/J.Maher
| Colobus troopmates Mack and Tana are showing off two tiny, wrinkly youngsters at the Central Park Zoo’s Rainforest. The bigger bundle, a male born to first-time mother Tana on March 19, had to make room on the vines for a new half-sibling on April 14, born to Mack. Both babies share the same father, Metalman, a longtime resident of this swath of New York tropics. For now, the youngsters' light fur make them stand out against the mostly black fur of their elders. At about three months of age, when the babies have grown more independent, they will acquire black-and-white coats to match their troopmates. At that point, Kima, a year-old sibling to the newbies, will likely become a playpal.
Mack, Tana, and the rest of the gang certainly have their hands full with this young and lively troop. Fortunately, female colobus monkeys work together to raise the troop's young and Maude, the resident grandma, always pitches in.
Colobus monkeys are highly social, and spend lots of time grooming each other as they lounge in tree branches. In their native forests of central Africa, they live in territorial groups of 7 to 11 individuals, including a single male, females, and their young. Females remain with their group for life.
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©WCS/J.Maher
| Within the territory that each colobus troop maintains, its members communicate with loud, resonating calls to warn of danger and discourage outsiders. While the others sleep, at least one individual in the troop is assigned “night watchman” duties in case predators—such as the crowned eagle or the leopard—are near.
More dangerous to colobus monkeys than forest predators, however, are the human loggers and hunters who destroy their habitat and threaten their survival. WCS conservationists are working to protect the species in Nyungwe Forest, Rwanda—the largest remaining lower montane forest on the continent of Africa and home to a large population of colobus monkeys.
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