Triplets at the zoo and more to come?
Tom Sabulis - Staff
Friday, February 4, 2005
Rare newborn monkey triplets, a young gorilla stud who's going to town, and a critically ill elephant: Even for an institution familiar with the circle of life (birth, procreation, death), Zoo Atlanta is having a fairly intense time these days.
Consider that:
> On Monday, one of its golden lion tamarins --- a critically endangered, squirrel-sized monkey --- gave birth to triplets, a rarity in the world of these marmosets native to Brazil.
Zoo officials are using the event to illustrate the unusual social structure among the world's smallest primates, one in which the father helps the mother take care of infants almost from the moment of birth.
> Taz, a 15-year-old gorilla, recently mated with all four females in the family of legendary zoo mascot Willie B.
Taz's most famous partner, Kudzoo, is the beloved silverback's oldest offspring. It will take a few more weeks before pregnancy testing is complete, but zoo leaders expect that Willie B. soon will become a grandfather for the first time, albeit posthumously. (He died at age 41 in February 2000.)
Taz's performance, researchers say, demonstrates that young lowland gorillas raised in a "bachelor" environment --- a group of male gorillas that never mate --- still can be moved in with females when they reach sexual maturity and lead a successful reproductive life.
Taz has taken to his procreative duties with gusto since joining the females in November: One day last month, he copulated 20 times.
"It's a very exciting time in the gorilla world," said Tara Stoinski, the zoo's manager of conservation partnerships. "This is the first time [at Zoo Atlanta] we've had a situation with animals that are all brand-new to the breeding scene. Taz has not bred before, nor have three of the four females."
Aside from Kudzoo, age 10, Taz's females include two other Willie B. offspring --- Sukari, 6, and Lulu, 5. His other partner is Kuchi, 20.
The zoo has been seeking a new male gorilla breeder since the death of Willie B. One possible successor, Caesar, a mature silverback on loan from the Los Angeles Zoo, was supposed to fill that role after moving to Zoo Atlanta in 2003. But he died suddenly last May.
> One of the zoo's three elephants, Starlett, is suffering from leptospirosis, an infection of the liver that has caused her to develop skin lesions and lose about 1,000 pounds over the past year. (She now weighs approximately 6,400 pounds.)
It is the most serious elephant illness the zoo has encountered, senior veterinarian Rita McManamon said. The three elephants, all female and 21 to 22 years old, arrived at Zoo Atlanta in 1986.
Starlett's disease can be fatal, but zoo officials believe the African elephant is recovering. "She's not out of the woods yet," zoo President and CEO Dennis Kelly said.
Starlett is being treated with antibiotics, and her appetite has returned. In a typical day, elephants consume about 56,000 calories. Her diet is being supplemented with corn oil mixed with her feed.
"They like the taste of corn oil," McManamon said. "I think they'd suck it up if they could."
Her illness has reduced the amount of time Starlett can be seen by zoo visitors --- she now eats separately from the other elephants (Zambezi and Victoria) so her diet can be monitored --- but she's still visible to the public at bath time, usually in the morning.
A team of experts from the University of Georgia --- including veterinary nutritionists and dermatologists --- has been collaborating on Starlett's treatment. Branson Ritchie, an animal clinician, has developed a new cleansing skin treatment useful for battling infections in human burn patients.
"We're using that to wash Starlett's skin," Kelly said. "It's cutting-edge stuff, the best medicine we have."
What's not so scientifically cutting-edge is the method Zoo Atlanta is using to test its gorillas for pregnancy. Since no gorilla pregnancy test exists, vets are using human tests, which monitor urine samples, that they buy at a local drugstore.
Right now, that process is adding to the zoo's wait.
"Those pregnancy tests are not designed for gorillas," McManamon said, "and it may take a couple [of] months before you will actually see a positive [result]. The hormone the test is looking for is a human hormone. There is some similarity between that human hormone and the gorilla equivalent of that hormone, but it doesn't always cross-react perfectly."
There is one other holdup.
"It's not easy," she said, "to get a gorilla to pee on demand."
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