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Scientific Name: |
Hylobates syndactylus
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Range: |
Malaysia and Sumatra
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Habitat: |
Tropical rainforests and mountain forests
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Natural Diet: |
Leaves and fruits, also occasional insects, bird eggs, or small vertebrates
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Zoo Diet: |
Fruits, sunflower seeds, and vegetables
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Physical
Characteristics:
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Siamangs are the largest of all gibbons. Male siamangs average three feet in height and 22 to 30 pounds in weight. Females are slightly smaller than the males. Their body is covered in long, dense, black fur.
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Behavior: |
Siamangs spend much of their time up in the tall trees of the forest. They move around easily in these trees by using their arms like “hooks” to hang and to swing from branch to branch. When siamangs walk on the ground or along a branch, they often hold their arms up high above their head. Siamangs are very agile and can even jump from branch to branch without using their arms at all.
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Reproduction: |
Siamangs spend their entire lives with the same mate. When a baby is born, it clings to its mother’s fur for safety and warmth. In the baby’s second year of life, most of the care is switched to the father. A young siamang will leave its parents when it is five to six years old.
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Notes:
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Siamangs have elastic throat skin that inflates to the size of a grapefruit when they are making their amazingly loud calls. The male’s screams discourage other males and the female’s sounds are associated with defending its territory.
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