Everyone knows you’re not supposed to have favourite animals as a keeper but sometimes, you just can’t help it! And the more and more time I spend with our different primates, a new species takes the lead as my favourite.
My current favourite are the Black Howler Monkeys found opposite the Orang enclosure and next to the giraffes. I just love the way they use their prehensile tail as a fifth limb and their cute, squashy little fluffy faces. As the family of howlers we have are always expanding, I thought I would introduce to them all and share some of my favourite Howler facts.
Black, or sometimes called Black and Gold Howler Monkeys, are a New World Primate meaning they are native to South and Central America.
They have a distinctive loud call (hence their name), which can be heard for three miles, making them the loudest land animal in the world. Their howls have been recorded at 140 decibels and they use this howl to mark territory. They have an enlarged hyoid (“U”-shaped) bone in the neck which facilitates their loud howling calls but restricts their arms’ range of motion, so they rely heavily on their prehensile tail for grasping branches while traveling through the trees.
This amazing tail acts like an extra limb, it is bald on the underside and extremely sensitive, so it helps them grip onto things and hang down from branches to leave their hands free to grab some tasty leaves.
They typically live in family groups of five to eight individuals containing roughly equal numbers of males and females. Females will stay with their birth group for life with males moving out of the group when they reach maturity. The females in the group will share parenting duties, carrying and protecting other females’ infants.
We have a family of six Black Howler Monkeys: Dad Mojo, females Mila and Minnie and youngsters Mali, Marlowe and Mork.
Mojo
Mojo was born at Twycross Zoo in June 2005 before moving to Chester in 2012 and finally coming to Wingham in February 2021. He is the biggest howler and is completely black in colour.
He is a chilled-out boy who tends to keep himself to himself but will always make an appearance if there’s a banana on the scene. He’s not a morning monkey and will often miss breakfast as he prefers his lazy lay ins to getting up for food. In the wild, these guys spend around 70% of their day resting or sleeping to conserve energy.
Mila
Mila is our eldest Howler monkey at 20 years old and was born in Apenheul Primate Park in the Netherlands. She came to Wingham in the December of 2020 along with her daughter Minnie. She is the smallest of the adults and has a skin tag under her right eye which makes it easier for us to tell her apart from Minnie.
Mila is an excellent mother, a brilliant grandmother and just adores babies, she even gets involved in helping out when Minnie has had her own baby. Since being at WWP, Mila has reared two babies: Mali and Mork. Females generally give birth every two years, resulting in one offspring after a 180-day gestation period. They reach sexual maturity around 18 months.
Minnie on left, Mila and baby Mork.
Minnie
Minnie joined us at Wingham at the same time as her Mum, Mila. She is the largest of the females and has a scar on the left-hand side of her nose. At 14 years old, she has learnt to become a good mum and has successfully reared her first baby last year. She is a very beautiful girl who is becoming more confident around her keepers and much more friendly. She will even now come and sit next to me on a beam outside and occasionally let me touch her back.
In the wild, howlers usually live 15-20 years but in captivity, they often go into their 20s.
Mali
Born in February 2022, Mali is the eldest of our youngsters and son to Mila. He is a cheeky boy whose bark is much worse than his bite. He thinks he’s the big brave boss but in reality, he is actually scared of everything! He will try his luck and has been known to pull people’s hair if they’re not looking but a quick wave of an arm usually sends him scarpering off again.
All Black Howlers are born a browny-golden colour so they can camouflage into mum, however the males will slowly turn black at around 2.5 years old and if you look closely at Mali, his hair is certainly starting to change colour and getting much darker.
One of my favourite Mali moments is watching the greedy boy try to steal a bowl full of porridge before realizing he does not like the sticky stuff all over his hands and as he tries to shake it off, he absolutely covers himself in it!
Marlowe
Now my absolute favourite individual in the park (don’t tell Edgar!) is the ball of yellow fluff that is Marlowe. Just about to turn one year old at the end of the month (cue big birthday party!), she is Minnie’s first successful baby. She is very confident and friendly and always comes to greet the keepers and has been known to enjoy sitting on laps or being carried around on arms! She is very food oriented and will do anything for a peanut. She is best friends with Mali and the two of them are always up to some kind of mischief.
In the wilderness of South America, the Howlers diet is mostly just leaves and fruit, but they will also consume flowers, buds, bark and seeds. At the park, we feed them variety of leafy vegetables, pellets specially designed for leaf-eating primates, and they get a daily delivery of fresh branches cut from around the park. They also do enjoy treats of peanuts, eggs, and sweetcorn.
Mork
On June 17th, 2023, we welcomed the youngest member of the family, baby Mork. Born to Mila, this little boy has just started to adventure around on his own for short periods. He has been seen starting to eat bits of mum’s food too and is still suckling well from her although he won’t be fully weaned until 18-20 months. Baby howlers will cling to mum’s chest completely for the first month or so before moving onto her back and eventually becoming a bit more independent around 6 months old.
Mork on mum Mila’s back.
Black Howler Monkeys are widespread across the Amazonian Rainforests. There are substantial populations in protected national parks throughout their range and are classed as ‘Near Threatened’ by the IUCN. The main threat is habitat loss as forest is changed to farmland. Soy farming and cattle ranching are the two most important agricultural businesses in the region. As well as this, Howlers are also hunted for meat and fur.
L-R: Minnie, Mojo, Mila, Marlowe, Mali.
