Monkey Jungle Monkey jungle, Miami

J

jwer

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Going through the walk-through exhibit thread someone mentioned they had red howlers, which surprised me because i only know them at the Dallas World Aquarium. Their site does show photo's, so they are probably there.

Does anyone know how many, species, where from?

More surprisingly though, i stumbled upon this picture;
Cacajao calvus

Allegedly taken at the same park. Another rarity, of which i am doubtfull they are there... Does anyone know anything about red uakari's at this park?

(just checked their site, it mentions red howlers but not the uakari's...)
 
I'm sure someone will give you a more thorough answer, but my impression is that Monkey Jungle imported and bought a lot of primates, some very unusual, back in the hey day. One often comes across pictures of rare primates, taken at Monkey Jungle and my guess is that these were some of the first, or at least first and best, photos taken of that particular species, and that why the photos are still in circulation. Now that don't keep a very interesting collection, apart from a few individuals of rare primates such as whoollys and perhaps howlers.
 
I don't think they still have uakaris. I personally haven't been there like loxodonta, but I saw a Jack Hanna animal adventure that featured them also I have done a little research over the years on the them too. They used to be accredited by the AZA but I believe they lost their accreditation since they continued to let the public get close with the moneys.

They are also one of only three facilities that aren't AZA accredited that have a Gorilla.

Species that are there or recently been there...

1.Western Lowland Gorilla
2.Bornean Orangutan
3.White Handed Gibbon
4.Siamang
5.Diana Monkey
6.Java Macaque
7.Ring Tailed Lemur
8.Red Handed Tamarin
9.Brown Headed Spider Monkey
10.Debrazza Guenon
11.Common Squirrel Monkeys
12.Black Capped Capuchin
13.Red Howler Monkey
14.Golden Lion Tamarin
15. Black and White Colobus.
16. Woolly Monkeys
17. Cotton Top Tamarin
18. Saddle Backed Tamarin
19. Owl Monkey

They say they have 30 species but I only count 19, also they have 400 primates.

Here's a map

over_s.jpg
 
While they may have 400 primates, about 150 of them are squirrel monkeys, and another 130 are macaques.
They do have Red Howlers, in the Amazonia exhibit. I believe there are 3 of them. I think besides the DWA this is the only place in North America that keeps them. I could be wrong though.
I was there in late August 2009 and they had no uakaris.
The species I saw were:
Long-tailed Macaque
Lar Gibbon (they have a pair, but only 1 was in the exhibit, the other in an off-exhibit area)
Ring-tailed Lemur
Woolly Monkey
Diana Monkey
Black-and-white Colobus
Black Spider Monkey
Red-handed Tamarin
Cotton-top Tamarin
Bolivian Squirrel Monkey
Black-capped Capuchin
Red Howler Monkey
Lowland Gorilla
Orangutan (they only have 1 female and I think it is a hybrid, at least that was said in the keeper talk)
I think they had another guenon species and maybe lion tamarins too.

They also have a section with many parrots, macaws including Hyacinth Macaw, conures, African Gray Parrots, Yellow-crowned Amazon and some others. I think these were all kept as pets in the past and braught here?

The macaques have access to most areas of the park, including their own pond where they will usually dive in to get food thrown in by keepers. Also you could buy food to feed the macaques. There is no direct contact with the monkeys though. Wire still separates the macaques and it goes over the heads of visitors so the monkeys can pass overhead.
I also thought they had siamangs but apparently not anymore.
 
I don't think they're lying, the website might just be outdated or they may have been off-exhibit. Some of the tamarin exhibits were also somewhat hidden, there could've been more smaller exhibits that I didn't see just because the animals weren't out. No clue where they'd keep an owl monkey though.
 
Well actually it's two, I was thinking Lionshare Farm had them. Monkey Jungle and The Zoo Northwest Florida, Monkey Jungle has a single silver back, and Zoo Northwest Florida has 2 males and a female but since recent financial troubles, they will probably go to the Lionshare Farm.
 
For the record they did actually have Red Uakari's and they actually bred. I recently got a book called "Build a Jungle Zoo" and they had a segment about his place which included a picture of the Red Uakari and caption.
 
Oh awhile ago, the book was written in 1973. But I would think they had them at least during the 80's and 90's because of the picture "jwer" found.
 
The only Red Howlers appear to he exhibited at Dallas World Aquarium and Monkey Jungle in Miami.I have recently came across a newspaper article in which a local bank gave the Cleveland Zoological Society 2,100 towards the purchase of several Red Howler Monkeys in 1982.So I am wondering whether they were once more prevalent in US zoos?Does anyone know else once kept them?

Team Tapir223
 
There are actualy more species of Red Howlers and the ones at Dallas World Aquarium are Venezuelan Red Howlers ( Alouatta senicullus ) - which are also kept at Cologne, Apenheul and Leeuwarden. I don't know which species is kept in Miami.
The only other Red Howler-species which has been kept and bred in the western world is the Bolivian Red howler ( A. sara ) : Twycross and Jersey
 
TeamTapir223 said:
The only Red Howlers appear to he exhibited at Dallas World Aquarium and Monkey Jungle in Miami.I have recently came across a newspaper article in which a local bank gave the Cleveland Zoological Society 2,100 towards the purchase of several Red Howler Monkeys in 1982.So I am wondering whether they were once more prevalent in US zoos?Does anyone know else once kept them?

Team Tapir223
Click to expand...

I had noticed that several European zoos had them and I had failed to specify that in my opening sentence.As far as whether the Red Howlers that Cleveland had in the early 80's I am unsure whether they were Venezuelan or Bolivian.But would still like to know if any other US zoos had housed them in the past.

Team Tapir223
 
In the International Zooyear Book vol. 22 and intresting article about Monkey Jungle and it's breeding of Venezuelian Red Howlers is published. During the end of the 1960-ties and the 1970-ties a small group was kept and bred 3 times ( 1971,1972 and 1973 ) but by 1980 only a single animal was alive.
 
TeamTapir223 said:
The only Red Howlers appear to he exhibited at Dallas World Aquarium and Monkey Jungle in Miami.I have recently came across a newspaper article in which a local bank gave the Cleveland Zoological Society 2,100 towards the purchase of several Red Howler Monkeys in 1982.So I am wondering whether they were once more prevalent in US zoos?Does anyone know else once kept them?

Team Tapir223
Click to expand...

In the International Zooyear Book vol 30 - which covered the years 1988 and 1989 - Los Angeles and San Diego Zoo mention births of Red Howlers - here with the scientific name Alouatta semiculus sara, so most probebly Bolivian Red Howlers.
Los Angeles bred 0.1 during 1988
San Diego bred 1.2 ( 0.1 not raised ) duriing 1988
3.0 ( 2.0 not raised ) during 1989
 
I have visited the Monkey Jungle on Friday. Actually this was a return visit - I first visited in 2007. Here is the latest list of primate species on exhibit: western lowland gorilla (a lone male), Javan macaques (free ranging, over 100 of them), squirrel-monkeys (also over 100) mixed with brown capuchins, coppery titis (I saw 2), golden lion tamarins (2), orange-handed tamarin (only saw 1), Colombian spider monkeys (they had quite a few in a cage, about a dozen), lar gibbons (saw 3 in one cage), mandrills, diana monkeys (saw 5 in two cages), mona monkey (a lone one in a cage). They also have a lone female orangutan but it was under veterinary care and off exhibit on the day of my visit. Only one red howler is left, and the keeper told me that it is no longer on exhibit (they had 2 or 3 back in 2007). When i visited in 2007, they had some guerezas and a lone woolly monkey, but both species are now gone it seems.
 
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