Getting Involved
Your tax-deductible donation allows us to provide:
- enriched, life-time care for our families of nocturnal monkeys retired from research laboratories
- job training and life skills for developmentally disabled youth in our community
- unique hands-on science based, service learning experiences for minority and underserved youth in our community
- international training experiences for undergraduates interested in behavioral research.
Volunteer
The DuMond Conservancy welcomes volunteers interested in helping care for our owl monkeys by preparing their special diets, managing and improving their enclosures and restoring the ecology of the naturally forested area they live in. In our effort to provide quality care we also create engaging foraging activities as enrichment for our owl monkeys (click here to see videos of owl monkeys enjoying enrichment). We also welcome help with general administrative duties and with organizing our special events. Our volunteer program has a strong educational component and our volunteers are encouraged to learn about the natural history and biology of our closest living relatives.
We offer volunteer opportunities on weekends (10 am to 2pm) and by arrangement during the week. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact us to schedule an interview.
We are also a service learning site for Miami Dade College and Hands On Miami.
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Adopt-A-Primate!
The goal of our adoption program is to provide an opportunity for contributors to familiarize themselves with the monkeys on an individual level. Your support enables us to better care for adopted monkeys, further develop our community education and behavioral research programs, and improve our facilities thereby making it possible to extend sanctuary to more primates in need. In return you can learn about the Conservancy's non-human inhabitants and feel a sense of personal responsibility for their care. When you adopt, you will receive: a color photo of your selected monkey, and a subscription to our newsletter. For adoptions over the one hundred dollar level you will also receive a guided tour of Monkey Jungle and the DuMond Conservancy with a primatologist. NEW: Now adopt online using a major credit card and PayPal. Simply click on the blue button next to the animal that you are interested in adopting. PayPal will make sure that the transaction is safe and secure, and the DuMond Conservancy will make sure that the requested materials are sent to you in a timely manner. Thanks again for your support.
Adopt An Owl Monkey
Night monkeys, also known as owl monkeys or Dourocoulis, are distributed throught South America and in to Central America.
The Night Monkey is unique as it is the only nocturnal monkey in the world. It is also one of only a few primate species which is strictly monogamous. Interestingly, in this relationship, it is the father which will carry the infant around for up to six months.
They have a beautiful pattern of colors on their faces, as well as brightly orange covered chest found in about half of the species.
Very Special Volunteers
Vjolca Jessica Capri,
New College of Florida
New educational programs that help mentally challenged individuals function in society are a fresh perspective in education. One such program has bolstered the self-confidence of mentally challenged students at Southridge High School in Miami. This program uses a new approach in preparing these students to enter the job world. This program is a community-based instruction that is rooted no in typical high school-related subjects, but instead in learning functional living skills.
Exceptional Help
Students from Southridge High's exceptional students program visit places like Monkey Jungle each week to get job experience.
by Elizabeth Caram
ecaram@herald.com
"Monkeys let out high-pitched squeals and swing from branch to branch when students from Southridge High visit their Jungle each Thursday.
It sounds like a good time, but they are not there to monkey around -- they all have work to do."
Each of the eight students who work at Monkey Jungle on Thursday has a mental handicap. Their IQs range from 20 to 60. A few have Down syndrome.
They are accompanied by teacher Norris Joyner, who watches as they tackle their chores.
They aren't glamorous jobs, either. Some go into a miniature kitchen and get to work chopping monkey food: pineapples, cantaloupe, grapes, apples and watermelon -- a diet that would make even Oprah Winfrey's personal trainer proud.
And some of the primates are on diets.
King, the 35-year-old resident gorilla, weighs about 450 pounds. His caretakers want to keep it that way, because male gorillas in captivity have a tendency to become a tad portly -- hence, the fruit and vegetable diet.
While some kids chop up the fruit that will help keep monkeys slim, others hit the grass with buckets full of soapy water and brushes.
Their job: get the, uh, stuff, off the monkey carriers employees use when they have to take the animals from one place to another.
Training Opportunities
The DuMond Conservancy provides special education programs in primatology for middle and high school students, including a 9-week program for a local magnet middle school and a supplementary education program for mentally-challenged students.
College students conduct field trips at Monkey Jungle using on-site accommodations and educational opportunities are available for Pre-College, Undergraduate, and Graduate field work and internships. Research emphasizes behavioral studies of semi-free ranging populations of squirrel, capuchin, and java monkeys, but may also include other areas of interest. Projects that span broad aspects of primate biology are encouraged. Veterinary support is available as is access to a primate library. Financial support is rarely available
Students or teachers interested in studying with the DuMond Conservancy should make an application to Dr. S. Evans, Programs Coordinator, via email at dumond@dumondconservancy.org.
