Philadelphia Zoo: Primate House

 The Philadelphia Zoo is home to a state of the art Primate Conservation Center/PECO Primate Reserve.  It contains interior habitats that provide homes for 2 species of Great Apes, 1 species of Lesser Ape, 2 species of Monkey, 2 species of Lemur, and a nocturnal primate also native to Madagascar, the Aye-Aye.  Additional Primate species live in other areas of the zoo as well.  Interior spaces are connected to 2 exterior yards and an island-like peninsula.  

Additionally there are interconnected habitat-trails and towers that give the animals access to other adjacent areas of the zoo.  The two olive green trails in the illustration belong to the Apes.  The darker green to the Gorillas, and the lighter green is shared (like the exterior yard) between the Sumatran Orangutans and the White-handed Gibbons.  The thin light blue trail on the left-side of the illustration is used by the monkey and lemur species and takes the animals off the upper portion to the illustration to vistas above and about the Reptile House.  The concept, created by the legendary zoological park designer, Jon Coe, is called Zoo360.  It was first implemented with the large cats (Lions, Tigers, Leopards and Pumas) at the Philadelphia Zoo, and later expanded to include the Greater and Lesser Primates, as well as, Goats!  So successful a way to exponentially enrich the lives of the animals who call zoos home, the concept has been used by many other zoos like the Maryland Zoo, the Jacksonville Zoo and the Denver Zoo.

The Philadelphia Zoo's PECO Primate Reserve has also had a bit of a baby boom with successful live births of an Orangutan, a White-Handed Gibbon and a White and Black Colobus.  Sumatran Orangutan births are always a source of great celebration as the species is on the fast track to extinction.  I was very fortunate to have gotten to see Sugi (born last June) on his first day outside last August.  On this trip, the Orangutans weren't early risers, and so I got to watch the keepers prep their interior day room and then a single male emerged to have breakfast.  I assume it was Jambi, but I don't know them well enough to know for certain.

The associated exterior yard with its humongous Sycamores was occupied on this morning by the family of White-handed Gibbons.  The species is gender dimorphic meaning that males and females are different colors.  The females are a blond/beige while the males a deep dark brown/black.  Newborns tend to be dark brown and then morph up or down in color as they reach the end of their first year of life.  The Philadelphia Zoo is home to a very successful breeding pair: 35-year-old female Phoenice and 34-year-old male Mercury.  The birth of Eros on March 14th of this year brings their family of offsprings up to 3!  Eros has both an older brother (Polaris, born in 2018), and an older sister (Ophelia, born in 2023).

The Stork's other delivery was a baby White and Black Colobus monkey on January 27th of this year.  The happy parents are both 11-years-old and first timers.  The mother is Tatu, and the father is Dexter--who was born at the Maryland Zoo in 2014!  It's so exciting to see these connections between my beloved Maryland Zoo and others.  The baby, Yeti, is a male.  

During my visit, I was also able to see the Coquerel's Sifaka and Ring-tailed Lemurs and the Western Lowland Gorillas.  

The Ring-tailed Lemur "Island"--that is actually a peninsula.  You can see the line of bubbles in the water?  This is strategic.  It fools the Lemurs into thinking that a predator is lurking beneath them, and they never try to get in the water or jump away.

Ring-Tailed Lemur

Lemur catta

Tatu and Yeti awaiting the opening of the Habitat-Trail.

White and Black Colobus Guereza

Colobus guereza

A male enjoying the Habitat-trail over the Giant Tortoise yard.

Coquerel's Sifaka

Propithecus

Western Lowland Gorilla

Gorilla gorilla

White-Handed Gibbon

Hylobates lar

Sumatran Orangutan

Pongo abelii