Happy birthday, Zuli!

Hello! My name is Bridget, and I am a new member of the Primate Team here at Zoo Atlanta. Before Zoo Atlanta, I was an animal keeper at a safari park in Georgia where I cared for various exotic species. I started my journey at Zoo Atlanta as a part-time Primate Keeper in December 2020. In March, I was offered a full-time position and happily accepted! Currently I work with the small African primates (drills, Schmidt guenon’s, wolf guenon’s and colobus), as well as the lemurs, sloths (which are not primates but fall under the care of our team), tamarins and occasionally the gorillas. I have learned so much already and am excited to continue to grow.

I personally have loved working with our group of 10 Angolan colobus monkeys and am excited to learn more about each of them as individuals. Zuli, one of our female colobus, has recently turned 2 so I thought this would be a great opportunity to share some fun facts about her! Zuli was born on June 28, 2019, at Zoo Atlanta and is the offspring of Lami and George. She is now the second-youngest of the group, as we recently welcomed little Moira, whose mom is Adanna, to the world on February 6, 2021. Zuli has begun to learn how to properly care for future infants by interacting with Moira and watching the older females in the group. Colobus display a behavior called alloparenting, meaning the females in a group all work together to raise the offspring. Zuli can even be seen carrying Moira around the habitat! Zuli has a very spunky personality and loves playing with others in her group. She is often seen jumping and swinging off the ropes high in her habitat and chasing after her siblings. Colobus monkeys are arboreal, meaning they live in trees and are very rarely seen on the ground. One of the many things colobus like to do is eat leaves! Colobus diets consist of greens, vegetables, and various kinds of browse. They have a multi-chambered stomach that breaks down cellulose to help them digest foliage.

The colobus group would not be the same without Zuli and her spunky, high-energy personality! Next time when you are at the Zoo come visit the colobus monkeys at the Monkeys of Makokou habitat and wish Zuli a recent Happy 2nd Birthday!

Bridget F.
Keeper I, Primates