Hmmm… I think I 'm a monkey… but how do I know for sure?? Image credit:

Monkeys have tails. Monkeys have tails. Monkeys have tails. If you leave the zoo learning one thing about primates, learn that monkeys have tails and apes do not. This is one zoo science standard that we try to teach all visiting school children, even the kindergarteners. They are quick to learn, and teach others. They do not hesitate to correct a parent who is pointing to our tail-free chimpanzees saying, "Look at the monkey". Makes me proud.

In preparation for our upcoming Conservation Speaker Series presenter, Noel Rowe, Founder of Primate Conservation, Inc, I decided to delve further into understanding primates by picking up his book, The Pictorial Guide to the Living Primates. After being in the zoo industry for eight years, I figured I knew quite a bit, but I opened up the book with some of my most experienced and knowledgeable co-workers and we were all awe-struck.

Let's begin by getting clear that a primate is a monkey, ape or prosimian. A monkey has a tail, an ape does not and a prosimian is like a lemur or bush baby. The word "prosimian" means "before apes" and is still not recognized by spell check who insists I must mean "promising." Let's hope that is the case for all primates. My hope for this blog is to expose my top 4 new favorite primates.

Western Tarsier -These little guys have gigantic eyes, are carnivorous and have a long, grooming claw on the third toe. They can rotate their heads 180 degrees, like an owl as they leap around trees in Indonesia, Borneo and Sumatra. Prosimian.

Pygmy Marmoset - This animal makes me want to say the C-word. The one we are not supposed to use to describe fuzzy, furry, tiny, big-eyed animals. Only 14-16 cm in length, they are the smallest true monkey. Also called a Dwarf Monkey, they live in the rainforest canopies in Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Tail = monkey.

Gelada Baboon – This is an old world monkey with a unique hour glass-shaped area of naked, bright pink skin on the chest. It is this area that becomes swollen to signal estrus. Various bands can form a herd of up to 600 baboons, traveling throughout the high plateaus of Ethiopia, where they sleep on cliffs.  Tail = monkey.

Mountain Gorilla – OK. This is not a new favorite, but the book reminded me of how much I truly am in awe of these creatures. From the majesty of the silverback to the playfulness of the juveniles, I will always list this mostly leaf, shoot and stem eating animal as a favorite (connect other blog). No tail = ape.

If I open this book again tomorrow, I will have 4 new favorites and on and on until I cover all 250 or so primate species. It is indeed a wondrous world of animals.

To quote Jane Goodall in the book's forward, "without our help, many monkeys, apes and prosimians will vanish." You can begin helping by attending Noel Rowe's lecture at the Oakland Zoo on September 23^rd where he will introduce us to the 25 most endangered primates. The lecture and silent auction are an annual benefit for The Budongo Snare Removal Project in Uganda.

PS.  Monkeys have tails.

Sea anemone and clownfish, ants and the acacia tree; in the natural world, there are many symbiotic relationships, those in which two species benefit from each other. Humans, it seems, are rarely part of such a partnership, so it was all the sweeter to believe I had discovered one.

I knew that my fall journey to Uganda and Rwanda would include a grand finale of hiking into the Virungas Mountains and encountering the rare (only 700 left) Mountain Gorilla. I knew it was going to be incredible to see such endangered and magnificent creatures close up. I knew the hike through mud and thistles would be challenging. I knew what to wear. I thought I knew it all, but was quite unprepared for what I witnessed.

Entering the Virungas Park headquarters after a hectic boarder crossing and rain threatening to dampen our experience, our group of 20 felt incredible relief to arrive in the care of our guides, who greeted us with smiles and hot coffee.

As the men spoke of Group 22, the gorillas we were to visit, it was clear this was more than a job to them and that these gorillas were not simply their livelihood. One of the guides had known a particular gorilla for over 10 years. They worried about their well being, about the poaching and human born disease (www.mgvp.org) that threatened them, and about how they were doing within their group. They were their family.

After a rather magical three hour journey through bamboo and mud, we met up with the trackers and left everything besides ourselves and our cameras in a pile.

"Let us meet our cousins," the guides said.

We climbed over a ridge… and there they were.

Now for the part I was unprepared for: the gorillas were willing to let us into their bamboo forest homes, willing to let us to gaze at their long-eyelashed females and infants with tiny human-like feet, willing to hear us giggle at the antics of their juveniles and quietly gasp at the sheer size and gentle power of their silverback. It was astounding what they allowed, and it seemed their allowance was part of a contract agreed upon long ago, to be part of a mutually beneficial partnership.

Upon first seeing the silverback, the guides gave a greeting: a long grunting huff-growl which seemed to say, "Hello. It is us. You know us and trust us. We are here for our one-hour allotted visit with 8 friends. They mean you no harm. You are the boss." The silverback made a small grunt at them that seemed to say, "Fine. Just be cool." Each time any gorilla in the group got too close to us, the grunting huff-growl was given to the silverback. They were communicating.

As we began our blissed-out descent, one more grunt from the silverback seemed to say, "Thank you for protecting us and our habitat. Now your time is up. We will see you tomorrow, if that is what it takes. Good Day, Sirs."

A symbiotic relationship? Let's just say yes.