Primarily Primates

It was a banner year for the San Diego Zoo when it came to rare primates: in addition to the birth of Alvila the gorilla, three other spectacular events took place. In September, Sarah the siamang was born, only the seventh siamang born in a zoo to survive worldwide. Unfortunately her mother did not take care of her, so she was taken to the Children’s Zoo nursery to be hand raised (left, with attendant Judy Rosenthal). She was weak and frail, but by three months of age she was on her way to growing up healthy. A birth in October also caused a sensation: Tommy, the offspring of proboscis monkeys Pinocchio and Penelope (far left). Tommy was the first of his species to be born outside of Indonesia, which brought the Zoo the 1965 Edward H. Bean Award for significant reproduction. A third point of pride was the success of associate curator Clyde Hill’s trip to Madagascar, to work with the government there, after obtaining the necessary permits, to collect species of lemurs for the San Diego Zoo to establish breeding groups. One he brought back was a rare subspecies of sifaka, Coquerel’s sifaka (above, with Clyde Hill at the airport).

1965

Innovation 1957 - 1966
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