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Dumond Conservancy Wish List
Needs & Treats
Monkey Chow (regular, new world, leaf eater)
Peanut butter – creamy only
Honey
Raisins
Nuts in Shells (any kind, unsalted)
Baby cereal
Yogurt
Marshmallows
Bird Seed
Dried fruit - any kind
Fresh fruits and Vegetables - any kind
Fresh browse (edible branches, stalks such as banana trees, leaves, hibiscus branches, flowers, etc...)
Household
Anti-bacterial Hand soap
Hand sanitizer
Laundry Soap
Dish Brushes/Sponges
Liquid Dish Soap
Paper Cups 16 oz Size / Paper Cups 3-5 oz Size
Paper Towels
Toilet paper
Kitchen cleaner
Tie Wraps
Golden Lion Tamarin Festival
On May 23, 2009 elementary school students and their parents enjoyed a fun-filled day (exploring scientific activities featuring the highly endangered golden lion tamarin from Brazil. Monkey Jungle was one of the first zoos to breed these stunningly beautiful monkeys. The volunteers at the DuMond Conservancy, under the guidance of Bianca Bonilla presented educational displays, a scavenger hunt, story telling and a short play all designed for parents and students to learn more about these tamarins. The Miami Capoeira project gave a lively performance of Brazilian martial arts that was much enjoyed by humans and Monkey Jungle monkeys alike. This event was sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Click an image below for more information.
Click below to download or view this events flier!
Links
The following are sites can prove useful to students and other individuals interested in primates.
If you would like to have your site added to this page, please email us at dumond@dumondconservancy.org.
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.
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.
DuMond Conservancy Raises Awareness With The Malagasy Festival
Click here to see a gallery of images from the Festival!
Newsletter Archive
The DuMond Conservancy tries to put out a newsletter quarterly. Unfortunately, this is not always possible due to time and budgetary contraints. If you would like to help us put out our newsletter, please contact us at dumond@dumondconservancy.org.
Also, you can email us with your name, mailing address and email address if you would like to be added to the mailing list.
The archives of our newsletter are available for download as .pdfs below.
Grooming, Language, and Social Bonding
As a high school sophomore at Pine Crest High School in Fort Lauderdale, Amy Schnidman approached the DuMond Conservancy about the possibility of conducting her own research project at Monkey Jungle. Specifically, she wanted to investigate Dr. Robin Dunbar's theory that language evolved in hominids as a more efficient method of social bonding.Dunbar suggests that grooming is the primary mechanism for social bonding in non-human primates. However, as group size increased during primate evolution, primates did not have enough time to maintain social bonds through grooming. This may have created pressure to develop a more efficient method of establishing and maintaining bonds within in a group, and Dunbar proposes that language developed as that method.
Research investigating human conversation support Dunbar's hypothesis. Such studies have revealed that approximately two-thirds of conversations were social gossip. Dunbar suggests the function of gossip is similar to grooming in our primate cousins.
Before Amy began doing her own research at the DuMond Conservancy she contacted Robin Dunbar for advice. She also shared her ideas with Japanese primatologist, Nakamura, who studies a similar question in chimpanzee social groups. After talking with these and other primatologists, Amy decided to study the large group of over one hundred Java macaques at the Conservancy...
Amy observed the macaques grooming in large grooming cliques of up to eight monkeys. This is probably much larger than any grooming clique that would be observed in nature, and it may be a result of the protection and food resources made available to the monkeys at our facility. Amy also investigated the role of communication in grooming. She found that communication was used to initiate grooming, but was not observed during grooming.
Amy has interpreted these results as not supporting Dunbar's hypothesis, but she is continuing to investigate the topic. She has received state-wide recognition for her scientific abilities, and was recently granted first prize in the Florida Junior Academy of Science Competition. We wish her all the luck in her future studies and research.
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.
Very Special Volunteers
Vjolca Jessica Capri,
New College of FloridaNew 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.
Primate Cognition Project
One of the more recent studies being conducted at Monkey Jungle is an investigation into the memory processes of a western lowland gorilla and two orangutans. More specifically, the ongoing study is looking into a particular kind of memory that cognitive psychologists call episodic memory.
Episodic memory is the kind of memory that allows people to remember specific events from their lives. Episodic memories can include recent events as well as fairly distant events. Episodic memory also includes more significant events that we retain for much longer periods of time, such as a first kiss.
Dr. Bennett Schwartz set to find out if gorillas and orangutans might possess these types of memories. For more information about his research or to contact him you can visit his website at http://www.fiu.edu/~schwartb/.
Fashion for Primate Passion
On October 24, 2009 over 100 DuMond Conservancy supporters enjoyed an event to benefit our nocturnal night (owl) monkeys.
Dr Sian Evans welcomed the guests and described how primates have intrinsic style. They are naturally adorned with silky, golden coats, iridescent rumps, sunshine yellow gloves and socks, snowy white head dresses and the cutest ear muffs imaginable. Their beauty is undeniable. Humans are naked apes but we were fortunate to have Banana Republic to bestow us with perfect style. Models from Triton Modeling Agency showed off the Banana Republic’s Holiday Collection to the perfect music selection of DJ Craig Peter. Guests enjoyed hors d’oevres by Exceptional Catering and sipped delicious tropical wines courtesy of Schnebly Winery. Guests also enjoyed unique personal encounters with monkeys in Monkey Jungle’s lush Rain Forest exhibit.
The event was underwritten by South Beach Construction, Inc.
Click an image below for more information.
Rainforest Presentation
Attached find our powerpoint presentation about rainforests produced by one of our high school interns.
Bushmeat: Poaching trade leads to ape extinction
Deforestation means “the action or process of clearing forests.”
Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) , arboreal apes found in Borneo and Sumatra, with great shaggy reddish-brown coat s, very long arms, and no tail, became designated as an endangered species in 1970. These primates, the largest in Indonesia, live in the think jungle of these regions. Recent reports estimated that only 15,000-25,000 orangutans in total are left in Borneo and Sumatra.
The most obvious threat now facing orangutan population s in Indonesia is the loss of habitat due to logging operations and deforestation. In addition, fires produced from logging industries have created a severe ecological problem throughout the islands of Indonesia.
The Victim: Gorillas are often targets of hunters throughout Africa looking to boost their profits.
© VanermediaDeforestation - The disappearing habitat of jungle dwelling orangutans
Deforestation means “the action or process of clearing forests.”
Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), arboreal apes found in Borneo and Sumatra, with great shaggy reddish-brown coats, very long arms, and no tail, became designated as an endangered species in 1970. These primates, the largest in Indonesia, live in the think jungle of these regions. Recent reports estimated that only 15,000-25,000 orangutans in total are left in Borneo and Sumatra.
Family bond : A mother orangutan with her infant.
©Michael S. Green/AP PhotoBehavioral Studies at Monkey Jungle
Monkey Jungle has a long history (beginning in the mid-1960’s) of fostering scientific research and collaborating in studies that have made a significant contribution to our understanding of primate biology and behavior. For example, the seasonality of squirrel monkey social behavior and reproduction (DuMond and Hutchinson, 1967) was discovered through observations in the “Amazon Rainforest” exhibit. Scientists and students have over the years made many other discoveries.
DuMond, F.V. and Hutchinson, T.C. (1967). Squirrel monkey reproduction “The fatted male phenomenon and season spermatogenesis” Science 158 1067-1070Owl Monkeys at the DuMond Conservancy for Primates and Tropical Forests
Owl Monkeys at the DuMond Conservancy
We have the great privilege to care for a little over 50 owl monkeys at the DuMond Conservancy. Our owl monkeys either live in Owl Monkeys at the DuMond Conservancy pairs or small families in a secluded naturally forested area with vegetation screening their enclosures. At dusk the woods become alive with the sounds of owl monkey vocalizations that include contented purrs as they sample their first meal of the evening and amazing resonant whoops if they hear an unfamiliar sound. We feed out owl monkeys a varied diet of specially prepared biscuits and mixed fruits, vegetables and leafy greens. The moneys also spend a lot of time foraging for insects that enter their enclosures. In nature owl monkeys eat fruit, leaves, insects and flowers. We have planted near the owl monkey enclosures the trees that produce the pink flowers that they love so much in Argentina. On clear nights when the moon is full, the monkeys make loud hooting sounds and are much more active than on darker nights.Owl monkeys have been used in several types of biomedical studies. Many of our older monkeys have been used in either ophthalmological research (because of their big eyes) or for studying the biology and treatment of malaria infections in humans.
We consider it our obligation to provide enriched lives for owl monkeys when they are released from research laboratories.Food transfers to young and mates in wild owl monkeys (aotus azarai)
Wolovich CK, Perea-Rodriguez JP and Fernandez-Duque E (2008). Food transfers to young and mates in wild owl monkeys (aotus azarai). American Journal of Primatology 70(3): 211-221
Food transfers to young and mates in wild owl monkeys (Aotus azarai)
Christy Kaitlyn Wolovich 1,2, Juan Pablo Perea-Rodriguez 2 , Eduardo Fernandez-Duque 3,41Department of Biology, University of Miami, Miami, Florida
2DuMond Conservancy for Primates and Tropical Forests, Inc., Miami, Florida
3Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
4Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral, Conicet, Argentina
email: Christy Kaitlyn Wolovich (c.wolovich@bucknell.edu)*Correspondence to Christy Kaitlyn Wolovich, Department of Biology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837
Funded by:
National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship
Wenner-Gren Foundation
L.S.B. Leakey Foundation
National Geographic Society and the Zoological Society of San DiegoKeywords
food sharing • mate-guarding • monogamy • pair bond • paternal careAbstract
Accounts of food sharing within natural populations of mammals have focused on transfers to offspring or transfers of food items that are difficult to obtain (such as meat). Five groups of socially monogamous owl monkeys (Aotus azarai azarai) in Formosa, Argentina were observed during 107 hr to determine the pattern of food sharing under natural conditions. There were a total of 42 social interactions involving food with food being transferred on eight occasions. Adult males transferred food to young more often than did adult females. All types of food that were readily obtained and eaten by all age/sex classes were transferred to young. Adult females also transferred food to their mates. This type of food sharing is very rare among animals and may have social benefits specific to monogamous mammals with paternal care. Am. J. Primatol. 70:211-221, 2008. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Received: 1 December 2006; Revised: 12 August 2007; Accepted: 14 August 2007Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1002/ajp.20477 About DOI
In Print: Owl Monkey Publications
In Print: Owl Monkey Publications
Zito, M., Evans, S. and Welson, P. (2003). Owl Monkeys (Aotus spp.) self-anoint with plants and millipedes. Folia Primatologica 74(3),159-161.Chambers C.M., Gossett J.E., and Evans, S. (2004) Sniffing their way around: observations on captive owl monkeys. Laboratory Primate Newsletter, 43 (3), 5-7.
Lau, J. Fernandez-Duque, E., Evans, S., Dixson, A. and Ryder, O.A. (2004). Heterologous amplification and diversity of microsatellite loci in three owl monkey species (Aotus azarai, A. lemurinus, A nancymaae). Conservation Genetics, 5(5), 727-731.Miller, C., Kinsella, J.M., Garner, M., Evans, S., Gullett, P., and Schmidt, R.E. (2006). Endemic infections of Parastrongylus (= Angiostrongylus) costaricensis in Two Species of Nonhuman Primates, Raccoons and an Opossum From Miami, Florida. Journal of Parasitology, 92 (2), 406-408.
Wolovich, C.K., Feged, A, Evans, S. and Green, S.M. (2006). Social patterns of food sharing in monogamous owl monkeys. American Journal of Primatology. 68, 1-12.
Levenson, D.H. Fernandez-Duque, E., Evans, S. and Jacobs, G.H. (2007) Mutational Changes in S-cone opsin genes confirm the absence of color vision in both nocturnal and cathermal Aotus monkeys. American Journal of Primatology 69 (7) 757-765
Wolovich, C.K. and Evans, S. (2007) The sociosexual behavior and chemical communication of Aotus nancymaae. International Journal of Primatology 28 (6) 1299-1313
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