I love primate talk :o) In my earlier life, I worked at a number of
facilities with mammals (zoos, in other words).

The keepers were very hesitant to separate mother and baby, for "newborn"
checks, because it frequently meant the baby would be rejected and there
would be hours and hours of intensive hand-raising for the staff. It is not
cheap nor easy to hand raise an animal, whether mammal or bird. The
blackbuck antelope were particularly difficult, because they were the one
hoofstock where there were no successful instances of hand-raising. Every
baby blackbuck rejected by its mothers died, and every baby blackbuck
touched by human hands was rejected by its mother. Any healthy non-human
primate would kill, or at least try to kill, anyone/anything interfering
with her baby!

The 2 monkeys I raised were a guenon and a squirrel monkey. The quenon was
born to an elderly mother who died shortly after his birth. Even though
infirm, she kept a grip on this baby and gave him up with her last breath.
The squirrel monkey was rejected by his hand-raised mother. This mother had
no idea what to do with her baby, and I believe she thought this thing could
not possibly be her baby, since he looked like a monkey. She felt she looked
like a human (after all, that's who she imprinted to!)

Something interesting about the primates was if they trusted you, they would
(within days) bring their baby over to show off, and actually show us the
sex of the offspring, if you hadn't already guessed by watching it pee!

For being "dumb animals," they have an awful lot of sense and smarts.

Best wishes,
Heather "Sam" Doak




<<The point is, I think, that mammals of many species need to learn about
feeding, and human mothers growing up in a bottle-feeding culture shouldn't
be surprised if it takes us a while to learn as well.

Teresa Pitman >>

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