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Lolita Suspects She Might Be Adopted

10/11/2012

2 Comments

 
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       I read a sad article yesterday about a baby howler monkey that had to be euthanized at the National Zoo.  She had metabolic bone disease (MBD) caused by an inadequate diet after being weaned to real food, and also perhaps receiving insufficient sunshine. 
     http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Zoos-Baby-Howler-Monkey-Dies-173341161.html
     The Vitamin D, calcium, phosphorus balance is critical for developing bones, and MBD is common in birds that are being rehabilitated.  (A young owl we received for rehabilitation had MBD and could neither stand nor perch, even though she was fully feathered, because of the improper diet she had received before we got her.)
       Howler monkeys are hindgut fermenters, digesting the leaves they eat very slowly after they pass through their regular stomach into the hindgut, and lying on a tree branch in the sunshine aids with their digestion.  Since our biologist suggested that we add a skylight to the cage during construction, Chiquito has gotten adequate sunshine.  Lolita, however, has been in the house until this past week.  Fortunately, spider monkeys are frugivores (fruit eaters) rather than foliovores (leaf eaters) like howler monkeys, and their digestion is very rapid so it hasn't been an issue.  Lolita is also still nursing and her primary diet is Isomil, which is at least balanced for human infants.
       Nevertheless, sunshine is vital for health, and Paul hustled out this morning to wash the skylight.  I'm just worried that after seeing his limitations without a step ladder and extension ladder, Lolita might suspect she's adopted... 
2 Comments
Gloria link
10/11/2012 12:59:53 pm

How could she possibly suspect that with such a strong family resemblance? :)

Reply
Michele
10/11/2012 11:14:04 pm

It's the little things, Gloria. Thumbs on their feet but none on their hands, a tail...

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    Picture
    In the jungle with the monkeys.

    Michele Gawenka 

       Jane Goodall has always been my hero, and working with primates an aspiration.  Africa wasn't in the cards the summer I turned 16, when my parents offered to send me to volunteer,  and there was only one class (in physical anthro-pology) when I wanted to study primatology in college.  
         Decades later my husband and I retired in Costa Rica, and this is our journey with spider (and howler) monkeys. 

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