Siamang popularity

[Molybdeus]

Siamangs seem like ideal zoo animals; they are active, vocal, sympathetic to humans, relatively clean (they seem to house train themselves,) live in social groups well suited to zoos (nuclear families,) don't require tons of horizontal space and aren't dangerous to keepers. Yet it doesn't seem like they are all that popular with either zoos or the public.

Am I wrong? If not, is there some reason for it?

 

[zooboy28]

Siamangs seem like ideal zoo animals; they are active, vocal, sympathetic to humans, relatively clean (they seem to house train themselves,) live in social groups well suited to zoos (nuclear families,) don't require tons of horizontal space and aren't dangerous to keepers. Yet it doesn't seem like they are all that popular with either zoos or the public.

Am I wrong? If not, is there some reason for it?

I don't think that they are a particularly well known species, but are often very popular exhibits at some of the zoos I have seen them at. For example, at Auckland Zoo the siamang enclosure often has far more visitors than the orang-utan enclosure. People oten stay there watching them for a long period of time too.

I don't know how many there are in Europe and North America, but they are relatively common in NZ, and are the most common gibbon in Australasia too.

 

[DavidBrown]

They are pretty wide spread in North American zoos. Their cries certainly draw attention and I think people enjoy watching them swinging around and interacting with each other.

At the San Diego Zoo and Fresno Chaffee Zoo in California they are in mixed-species exhibits with orangutans and draw big crowds who enjoy watching them interact with the orangs as well as cavort amongst themselves.

Disney's Animal Kingdom has a very large siamang exhibit with multiple areas for them to climb, brachiate, and swing. This seems to be a popular exhibit, especially when they vocalize.

 

[Buldeo]

The Oakland & San Francisco Zoo both have siamangs. The SF exhibit sucks to put it plainly, but the pair are fairly active. The one perk to the enclosure: You can get really close to them if they're at the right spot. Being able to watch their facial movements is a nice, well, perk.

Oakland has a small island -- about fifty or sixty feet in length -- that's incredibly dense with plant life. The brothers can hide if they want or have a nice amount of climbing apparatuses to monkey around on. You can hear them vocalize throughout much of the zoo, of course. Unfortunately, they're opposite a very active white-handed gibbon and do get overlooked unless they're active. When they are active, they get plenty of attention.

 

[tetrapod]

Probably more popular in the past (largely due to the size and calls), but passed by for more endangered white-cheeks, red-cheeks and silveries. Really nice species. In my personal experience (of a single pair) they are the most aggressive gibbon species to work with.

 

[vogelcommando]

In the Netherlands siamangs are quite rare or maybe none extant ( no collection springs in mind ) but in the rest of Europe they are kept - and bred - quite commonly.
They can be very intresting but I guess this also depents on how they are displayed ! At Antwerp Zoo for example they are housed in a relative small enclosure in which they not realy are able to swing at high speed through it, something which make them at other places so atractive.

 

[Pertinax]

They can be very intresting but I guess this also depents on how they are displayed ! At Antwerp Zoo for example they are housed in a relative small enclosure in which they not realy are able to swing at high speed through it, something which make them at other places so atractive.

Very true that it very much depends on their housing and related activity levels. Marwell in UK have them in a huge modern 'aviary-style' enclosure, purpose built and very fancy but it is virtually devoid of equipment they can brachiate on, so they sit on the ground mostly. Recently they 'addressed the problem' by adding one small wooden framework. It makes virtually no difference. Very poor management or understanding of their proper needs.

Twycross on the other hand have up till now kept them in older style cages but these are tall with plenty of ropes and brachiation equipment. There are several pairs near each other too, so a lot of stimulus for vocal chorusing. IMO theirs is a much better exhibit than the much newer one at Marwell.

Monkeyworld Siamangs have access to a couple of Pine trees. Odd but it works.

 

[lintworm]

In the Netherlands siamangs are quite rare or maybe none extant ( no collection springs in mind ) but in the rest of Europe they are kept - and bred - quite commonly.

They are kept in both Burgers Zoo and Amersfoort.

They make a great exhibit in Burgers Zoo, swinging above banteng and different deer species in live trees and they vocalize quite a lot, especially because they have some golden cheeked gibbons as neighbors. Where in Amersfoort they are less interesting to watch, although they have a nice little family, but they are kept in quite a small cage....

 

[vogelcommando]

Sorry, forgot about Burger´s which I had should known but Amerfoort I didn´t know ( has been a long time ago when I visited it ).

 

[FBBird]

Siamang....

Apart from perhaps a very few females, all adult gibbons should be treated as very dangerous animals indeed. What they lack in size they make up in speed.

 

[Pertinax]

Apart from perhaps a very few females, all adult gibbons should be treated as very dangerous animals indeed. What they lack in size they make up in speed.

Absolutely. The fangs on them are horrendous. I remember a mature Pileated female 'Blackie' at Bristol Zoo in the old days- she was a dangerous creature.

I have a book about a staff photographer at the Bronx Zoo in the 1950's- one day he was taken by rowing boat to 'Gibbon Island' on their lake to photograph a new baby Gibbon with its mother. As the father was sitting, apparently at a safe distance, high up in a tree at the back of the island, the keeper rowed in closer so they could get better shots of mother and baby- quick as a flash the male was down and in the boat with them, and slashing with his teeth- fortunately they received only superficial cuts before driving him off, but commented that those same teeth could have slashed a jugular vein.

 

[Molybdeus]

I suppose I should have clarified that by not dangerous to their keepers I meant that they are not in the same class as polar bears, gorillas, chimps, lions, cobras, etc. They don't seem to require any more safety procedures than your average lynx or tapir.

Pretty much any large animal (especially territorial ones) can be dangerous. Even donkeys can kill.

 

[FBBird]

Not sure about the comparisons here. A gibbon is faster & more agile than a cobra & usually more malevolent than the average gorilla.

 

[Molybdeus]

Hmm, maybe I am wrong. I was under the impression that many Siamang exhibits don't move the animals into a holding area at night: specifically the island exhibits. I'm pretty sure I heard that they access the island by boat to feed the Siamangs. Is that wrong?

 

[Pertinax]

Not sure about the comparisons here. A gibbon is faster & more agile than a cobra & usually more malevolent than the average gorilla.

I think 'malevolent' sums up their nature very well, or most of them. Most female Gorillas (not males) are totally 'safe'- not so Gibbons. IMO the most dangerous animals are just such as Gibbons, which masquerade behind a seemingly innocent exterior rather than the obviously, potentially dangerous ones like Carnivores, Great Apes, Snakes etc.