In honor of Brookfield Zoo’s “Aperil” celebration for Ape Awareness Month, here are five things you probably didn’t know about apes from Danielle Fogarty, the zoo’s acting assistant lead keeper in the primate department.
1 All in the family
Brookfield Zoo’s apes live in different families. The zoo has a troop of seven gorillas, led by a silverback gorilla named Ramar. One of the gorillas, Bana, will be heading to Lincoln Park Zoo at the end of April on a breeding recommendation.
The zoo’s eight orangutans rotate on exhibit in three different family groups. One orangutan infant, Kekasih, who will be 2 in October, comes on exhibit with her mom, Sophia, dad, Ben, and brother, Denda. The zoo has the second largest population of orangutans in American Zoos and Aquariums accredited zoos in North America, Fogarty said.
“One of our orangutans, Maggie, is one of the oldest orangutans in North America,” Fogarty said. “She’ll be turning 50 next year.” In total, the zoo has 18 apes.
2 Avoid palm oil
Fogarty said that orangutans in the wild are become extinct due to their habitats in Asia being used for palm oil production. “Palm oil is in one of every 10 supermarket products,” Fogarty said.
“For example, it is found in soap, candy, ice cream and frozen foods, and people are attempting to use it as a source for biofuel.” The zoo has recently added a new restaurant near the apes exhibit called Scoops, that serves Breyers palm oil-free ice cream.
“We’re asking people to look at ingredient lists and not buy products with palm oil, palm kernel oil, or vitamin A palmate,” Fogarty said. “Unless drastic action to save natural habitats is taken, orangutans could be extinct by 2025.”
3 Recycle a phone, save a gorilla
Gorillas in Africa are losing their homes because trees are being cut down for coltan mining, a metallic ore used in cell phones. The zoo is starting a cell phone recycling program so that less coltan has to be mined.
“If you recycle your cell phones, companies can use them to make new phones and use a lot of the phone components, which cuts down on the amount of coltan that needs to be mined,” Fogarty said. There are drop off boxes at the North and South gates of the zoo, and people can drop off their phones anytime during normal zoo business hours.
“We are partnering with Eco Cell,” Fogarty said. “We send the phones to Eco Cell for recycling, and whatever money we make from sending them the phones will go into conservation programs.”
The Eco Cell Web site, eco-cell.com, said each phone can be worth up to $50. Along with phones, Eco Cell also accepts phone chargers and accessories.
4 Changing colors
In the third group of zoo primates, the white cheeked gibbon, Thani, is changing colors before zookeeper’s’ eyes.
“Thani is a baby boy who will be turning 1 on April 3,” Fogarty said. “He doesn’t look like mom or dad, but like a combination. When babies are born, they look like mom — a buff color, and we think this is for camouflage purposes.”
Between six months and a year, gibbons start changing to black, like their fathers. Thani is male, so he will stay black. Females change to black and then back to buff again. “It’s an amazing trait that their bodies are able to do this color change,” Fogarty said.
5 See for yourself
Zoo patrons can check out the Ape Awareness month festivities every weekend in April, starting April 3. Zookeepers will host events on the Tropic World Asia and Africa walkways from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Keeper chats on white cheeked gibbons will start at noon. Orangutan chats will start at 1 p.m., and gorilla chats will start at 2:30 p.m.
The keepers will also do a food throw and feed the animals during the chats. Along with the chats, there will be several activities in which for patrons can engage, including food displays, crafts and measurement activities, to see how one’s hand print would stack up to a gorilla or orangutan, a gorilla arm span, and a gorilla-sized T-shirt.
Copyright 2010 Romeoville Reporter. Some rights reserved
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