Introducing Nafis

Hi there! My name is Ansley, and I am a new member of the Small Primate Team here at Zoo Atlanta, coming from the Saint Louis Zoo last year. You might have noticed a new face here in the mixed species monkey habitat in The Ford African Rainforest, so I’d like to introduce our newest arrival and chat about how we manage introductions between animals. 

Nafis is a 10-year-old male Schmidt’s guenon who arrived here just a few months ago from another AZA organization. He is a smart, curious animal, and he is very interested in what his care team is up to! Our team has already begun working with him to train some key husbandry behaviors– these are behaviors that allow animals to voluntarily participate in their own care. For all training here at Zoo Atlanta, we use positive reinforcement. That means that each time an animal performs a desired behavior, they receive a reward that reinforces the behavior. In Nafis’ case, that reinforcer is usually peanuts! Some of these behaviors he had already learned at his previous home, and some will be brand new to him. He has already proven himself to be a very fast and motivated learner. It has been such a joy to see his sweet, funny personality start to show as he settles into his new home.

While animal care professionals are always happy to meet a new animal in our care, it can take some time for their soon-to-be roommates to warm up to a fresh face. We have been hard at work introducing Nafis for our resident Schmidt’s guenon family, mom Bam and her kids Flynn and Jack. Our Animal Care and Veterinary Teams carefully manage animal introductions to ensure that we take each new step at an appropriate pace to minimize stress and keep the animals safe.

Primates are social animals, and it is crucial that we observe and understand their social behavior carefully to determine how an introduction proceeds. There are many things we keep in mind when planning introductions. Do we introduce animals one at a time, or allow them to meet as a group? A species’ natural history, its mating system, dominance hierarchies, the time of year, the different ages and sexes present within a social group, as well as the physical environment and available resources, can all influence how new animals meet and adjust to one another.

On top of that, every individual is unique! The process moves at the animals’ pace. It can happen in a day or even take months for a group to become cohesive. Animal introductions are critical for conservation in AZA-accredited zoos, as organizations work together on Species Survival Plan® (SSP) programs that make recommendations for animal transfers and new breeding pairings. These recommendations help maintain demographically stable and genetically diverse populations of species in human care, with hope for some of these individuals to potentially be reintroduced into their native range.

We often start an introduction by allowing new animals to see, smell, and hear one another while observing their responses. We might then watch how animals interact with a safety barrier between them, looking for positive signs like affiliative vocalizations (sounds that animals make to establish and maintain social bonds; in Schmidt’s guenons, this is a high trilling sound) or presentation of body parts for grooming, as well as monitoring any aggressive behaviors or displays. If things look good, we’ll move to supervised introductions in a shared space. When Bam and the kids first spent time with Nafis outside, they mostly kept their distance from him. They made some alarm calls, and they were very vigilant about where he was. Within a few days, Flynn became comfortable approaching and foraging close to Nafis. Bam and Jack soon followed. We started to hear Bam’s group make affiliative vocalizations toward Nafis, as they slowly gained confidence and learned each other’s boundaries. After a couple of weeks, Bam was finally brave enough to start grooming Nafis, which is a very important positive social behavior in primates. Flynn eventually followed, and Nafis appears to be loving the attention! The youngest, Jack, is still a little unsure about our newcomer, preferring to stick close to Mom, but he is making great progress too. We see the group bonding and become more comfortable and confident with each other’s company every day. 

Since our Schmidt’s guenons spend most of their days in a mixed species habitat with our Angolan colobus group, our next big step will be for the newly expanded guenon group to meet the colobus! Introductions can become more challenging with multiple species involved (and we have some big personalities in the mix), but we’re looking forward to getting this dynamic group back outside together!

(Photo: Jodi C.)

Ansley P.
Keeper I, Primates