NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 31, 2005

Zoo Keepers Step in After
Mother Rejects Rare Siamang Baby

A rare siamang baby is being raised by zoo keepers after his mother rejected him at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo.

Tucker, a male, was born on June 27 to siamang parents Gus and Penny. Siamangs are small apes native to the rain forests of Southeast Asia. For the first several months of life, baby siamangs are nursed and carried almost exclusively by their mothers. When Tucker was just five weeks old, zoo keepers noticed that Gus was carrying Tucker more than would be expected, given Tucker’s age. Upon closer observation, it became clear that Penny had stopped nursing Tucker.

“We always prefer that zoo babies be raised by their parents,” said Animal Curator Mark Weldon. “But in this case we had no choice but to pull the baby and raise it ourselves.” One last attempt at reuniting the family failed when Penny became aggressive toward her baby.

For now, Tucker lives indoors in a cozy portable kennel carrier, where he snuggles up with a fuzzy stuffed animal and takes frequent naps. Zoo keepers spend up to 10 hours a day feeding Tucker formula from a baby bottle and socializing with him. Last week, Tucker got his first taste of solid food—a piece of mashed banana.

The first of Tucker’s six daily feedings is at 6:00 a.m.; his last feeding is at 9:00 p.m. Each feeding takes more than an hour. Zoo keepers report that Tucker is steadily gaining weight and now weighs one kilogram—just over two pounds. Keepers talk to Tucker and walk with him through the forest near the zoo’s exhibit. Just like a human baby, he’ll reach up and grab a keeper’s nose or pull on a strand of hair. Keepers usually wear a protective mask to avoid spreading germs to Tucker.

During these feeding and playing sessions, zoo keepers often wrap Tucker in a soft blanket and carry him next to the siamang exhibit in the Indonesian Rain Forest, so Gus and Penny can watch from within the exhibit as their baby is fed.

Gus still exhibits a strong interest in his baby, but he can’t care for Tucker on his own. Zoo keepers are hopeful that they will be able to reunite Tucker with one or both of his parents sometime in the future. “Our goal is for Tucker to know that he is a siamang, and be able to socialize with his own species,” Weldon says. “We don’t want to raise him to think he is a human.”

Tucker’s birth was considered significant because siamangs are endangered in the wild. Only two other siamangs were born in North American zoos since 2004.

The zoo received a recommendation from the Siamang Species Survival Plan (SSP) to breed Penny and Gus last summer. The SSP is a cooperative program among zoos to maintain genetic diversity within populations of endangered animals.

No one is sure why Penny stopped caring for Tucker, but Weldon speculates that her age could have been a factor. Penny was 26 years old when the baby was born, and siamangs usually live for about 35 or 40 years. ”She was a bit older than your average siamang mom,” Weldon says.

Zoo visitors might get a glimpse of Tucker at feeding time near the siamang exhibit. But Tucker’s feeding times can be irregular, and rainy or cool weather may keep him indoors.

The zoo is open every day from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. until October 9. Admission is $7.50 for adults, $5.00 for children age 2-14 and for seniors over age 60. Babies age 1 and under and Zoo Society Members are admitted free.

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