Monkey business: Memphis Zoo gains prized new baby
As “pride” is to lion and “herd” to zebra, so “troop” is to monkey — a collective noun that describes the animals, in plural.
The homonymic “troupe” would work just as well. From the vantage point of the human spectator, the Francois’ langurs — long-tailed monkeys in the China exhibit at the Memphis Zoo — might be a theatrical troupe of actors, clowns, acrobats and mimes, mugging for the approval of the Peanut Gallery (a perhaps inappropriate term, considering that the days of zoo visitors tossing actual peanuts to actual monkeys are long over).
As of this month, the troop or troupe has a new star attraction, a small and shy simian who is the object of all eyes on the human side of the zoo equation and most of the grasping hands that belong to the monkey side of the Plexiglas barrier that separates the primates’ outdoor enclosure from the pedestrian path beyond.
The portable, pumpkin-colored fuzzball has been named Reed. He was born Aug. 5, and he is the latest addition to a Francois’ langur community that now numbers nine individuals, making it the largest such troop in the United States. That’s a hopeful distinction for a species
that has been classified as “critically endangered,” which means it is facing “an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild,” according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which monitors the health of animal populations.
“A lot of their habitat is being taken down through forest loss,” due to farming and residential growth, said zookeeper Ly Coil, 29. Found mainly in semi-tropical southern China and Vietnam, Francois' langurs in the wild are being crowded into closer proximity with human beings, “and that is not ideal.”
Coil describes these langurs — the species is named for Auguste Francois, a French diplomat who served in China at the end of the 19th century — as particularly “striking” monkeys, thanks to their inky silk fur and their white “sideburns,” which reach almost to their nose. The monkeys are even more striking as babies, however.
“See how he's nice and orange like that?” Coil asked. “That makes it easy for the whole troop to see there's a baby in the troop, and to protect the baby.”
Its practical purpose aside, Reed's orange fur provides a bright contrast and Halloween complement to the black coats of the adult members of the troop in general and to the mother he clings to in particular. The color suggests a Nerf product, and in fact Reese is handed off like a football from monkey to monkey, with all six females vying for an opportunity to cuddle the newcomer, whose wizened but cute face betrays no alarm as he clutches babysitters who leap from platforms, balance on branches, swing from ropes and otherwise behave like Tom Cruise in a “Mission: Impossible” sequel, if Tom Cruise had a Mohawk fur crest, finger-like toes, and a non-prehensile tail.
In fact, the troop practices an ittakes-a-village “alloparenting” approach to child rearing, with most members showing an interest in the well-being of the baby, even if Reed prefers his mother, 10-year-old Jean Grey (named for the “X-men” superheroine), whose milk will be his chief source of nourishment for close to a year.
Meanwhile, the adults — who, in the wild, would feed on the soft green outer leaves of the treetops where they would dwell — consume kale, spinach, leaf lettuce and collard greens, along with what Coil calls “their favorite treat,” sweet potato. When not eating they “socialize and groom,” and chew on the “browse” placed in their enclosure: fresh branches of birch, winter honeysuckle and mulberry, cultivated at Shelby Farms and collected daily for use at the zoo.
Only about 2,000 Francois' langurs are believed to remain in the wild, which makes the Memphis troop — dad Jay Jay, moms Tanah and Jean Grey, plus offspring Raven, Rook, Ripley, Reagan (yes, born on Presidents Day), Reese and Reed — a fairly significant suburb. Because only one “alpha male” can exist within a troop, males Ripley and Reed eventually will be moved to other zoos where they can help produce offspring of their own, under the auspices of the Species Survival Plan, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums program that guides the placement of animals to promote healthy breeding and genetic diversity.
In the meantime, the monkeys are out to play every day at the zoo, with Reed the relatively easy-to-spot scenestealer who plays it cool: the calm orange eye of a frenetic monkey storm. The langurs may not draw as many visitors as their around-the-corner celebrity China-mates, the giant pandas, but “when they're jumping all around,” Coil said, “they get a lot of love. They're really active, and they're really fun to see.”