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Well, the visitors should come and see the howlers because this is a great experience
for us in that National Zoo has had howlers in the past
but this is our first birth.
We had births over twenty five years ago but none of the young had survived past
a couple of days. So this is our first successful birth, so that's a great
accomplishment for the National Zoo.
The baby's personality is hard to tell so far. Been pretty shy and
holding on mother's chest. That's normal in the parental care.
But a little bit curious and wants to venture off, but mother's
been very protective.
The father's name is Pele and the mother's name is Chula.
They're both doing great as first-time parents.
They are both very attentive to the baby and and very caring and loving.
Before the
baby was born the mother appeared to be shy and timid,
and the male
was kind of the
outgoing one.
And since the baby's been born the mother has stepped up and been very attentive
to the baby and not letting
the father get too close.
They're main distinctive thing is their call. They're howler monkeys, they howl,
the howl kind of gives them their name.
It's one of the loudest and longest heard of all land animals. They use it
to communicate with each other,
to alert other groups of howlers.
All howler monkeys, or black howler monkeys, are born blonde, the color of
the mother.
The male is black and the mother is blonde. They live
primarily the first,
you know, three or four months, depending on how adventurous the baby is, on their
mother's chest. So the
blonde baby blends in with the blonde mom and it's very hard to tell there's even
a baby there. This would protect them in the wild and as the baby ages, because
this one's a male, will turn black. The transition starts at a little bit around
a year and then gradually he'll turn black until he's completely black at about two
years of age.