The Shanghai Zoo welcomes some small, rare and strange new inhabitants(2)

Without its mother, the little lion-tailed monkey is often insecure. Photo: Courtesy of the Shanghai Zoo

One of the zoo's wreathed hornbills Photo: Courtesy of the Shanghai Zoo

A popular attraction

One of the most popular attractions at the zoo is the enclosure for the baby primates. The key exhibits here at present are a 6-week-old lion-tailed macaque and a 2 1/2 month golden (or snub-nosed) monkey. They spend most of their time in their own enclosures.

Both these babies are special - lion-tailed macaques have second-class State protection while golden monkeys are under first-class protection. At the enclosure the older golden monkey is more lively than younger lion-tail. "The lion-tailed monkey has just been taken out of the incubator so it is still adapting to the outside world," explained Zhu Yingdi, the keeper who supervises the primates' center at the zoo.

Shanghai Zoo imported its lion-tailed monkeys three years ago. Now there are three females and two males at the zoo. This year for the first time the zoo bred two lion-tailed monkeys but when one of the mothers became too weak to care for its baby, Zhu took over as the mother.

Zhu is an experienced keeper who joined the zoo in 2005. She knew that it would be better to have the baby reared by its mother so as soon as she began looking after it she was also planning how to reintroduce it to its family.

"When a baby monkey grows up with its mother it learns a lot of life skills like eating and climbing and how to show that it is friendly when it is communicating with other monkeys. If it is brought up by a human it develops these skills much more slowly," Zhu said.

Without its mother's company, the little lion-tailed monkey is often insecure so Zhu has given it a doll which it holds most of the time. Though it is a baby it has claws and Zhu has been scratched by her ward several times. She ignores this and still cuddles it when she feeds it or cleans it. "We don't want it to be dependent on humans or to learn human behavior. This can make it difficult for it to return to its family. But it's so young it's hard to resist sometimes."

Having learned from the baby golden monkeys, Zhu said the lion-tailed monkey will leave the center and return to live with others when it is 6 months. "Returning these monkeys has to be done gradually. First we put the baby monkey back close to the other monkeys but separated by a cage to let them see, hear and smell each other to familiarize themselves with each other. Then, slowly, we let them touch and accept each other."

A difficult task

Some of the keepers of the zoo's new babies have an even more difficult task in understanding the needs of their wards. For Ma Jun and Shi Hongyun who look after the wreathed hornbills, rare, large birds found in Yunnan Province and other tropical zones in South Asia, their biggest difficulty is that they cannot see their babies.

"The female hornbills make their nests in holes or natural crevices and then seal their nests off from the outside with a mixture of earth and droppings. They just leave a little hole for the male to bring food to the hen and later to the chicks. We can't see what is happening but have to listen to the birds' calls and watch the males to find out about the birth and progress of the chicks," said Ma.

The zoo's female hornbill went into a nest Ma had carefully prepared out of twigs and vegetation on March 24. "Usually it takes three to four months for a mother hornbill to leave its nest with its baby. It takes them 30 days to lay an egg and another two or three months to wait for the hornbill chick to grow old enough to be able to fly," Ma said.

After the female had sealed off the nest Ma and Shi started listening carefully. Then on May 5 they heard the sound they wanted to hear - the sound of a newly hatched hornbill chick. On July 5 the mother and baby left the nest together.

"Like humans, hornbills are also very choosy when it comes to their partners. It's difficult for them to breed but once they form a relationship they will stay with each other for life," Shi explained. Although the zoo imported four hornbills in 2012 only two have mated.

Hornbills can live for 30 years and after they reach the age of 5, male hornbills can begin mating, Shi said. The zoo's mother hornbill is 12 and her partner is about 7. It is uncertain at this stage which sex the new arrival is. "Although it usually takes a year to tell because this chick looks like the father and has the same yellow pouch, we are almost certain that the chick is male," said Ma.