The Official Houston Zoo Blog

In honor of Father’s Day, I thought I’d take a break from writing about African Forest construction for a tribute to dads, particularly those of the animal kingdom. At first glance, many people think of animal dads as not so important – don’t they all just run around fighting over territory and trying to have as many kids as possible? As usual for the animal kingdom, these things are never as simple as producers of 30 minute documentaries would like you to believe.

Let’s start with tamarins and marmosets, small monkeys native to South America. Tamarins live in family groups made up of a pair and their young offspring. Every year the female gives birth to twins, which is quite rare among primates. These kids can weigh up to 10% of her body weight and they have to be carried 24 hours a day. You don’t have to be a primatologist to see what a burden this could be. Lucky for her though, the male steps in almost immediately to help. He carries the infants around most of the time (sharing with the older siblings if there are any) so that all the female has to do is feed them. This is not just helpful, it’s essential – those babies won’t survive without his help.

photo by Houston Zoo Natural Encounters Staff

One of my favorite animal dad stories is an exception to the rule. We have a family of orangutans here at the zoo that many you know – mom Kelly, dad Doc, and their son Solaris, who reside at Wortham World of Primates. Orangutans are also a bit unusual among primates because they are semi-solitary – this means they spend most of their time alone, rather than in large groups like gorillas and chimpanzees. In fact, adult male and females only meet every 8 or so years to breed! Kids stay with their mothers for 8 years or more and are totally dependent on her to learn how to survive and this is the only real orangutan social group.

Here at the zoo we try to manage our orangutans similar to how they would live in the wild – we let them spend time alone and some time together. Doc and Kelly are a compatible pair and often go outside together during the day. As soon as Solaris was old enough to move around on his own, he was fascinated with Doc. Kelly, however, instinctively protected Solaris and would not allow him to approach Doc. For months we watched Solaris try to sneak off to see Doc and then Kelly would drag him back to “safety.” All the while Doc just sat there, with the look of indifference that only a male orangutan can master. But Solaris was determined, and one day Kelly gave in. The result was one of the most endearing scenes of my career – a 300+ pound dad playing with his tiny son.

photo by Houston Zoo Primate Staff

One could argue that male orangutans have no paternal instincts and in the wild, these two would have probably never met. But here at the zoo father and son were lucky enough to find each other and contradict much of what we thought we knew about animal behavior. I love it when they teach us something we thought we already knew.

I was lucky to spend last week with my dad, who I don’t get to see often enough because this job that I love so much has also taken me far from home. If you’re lucky enough to spend today with your dad, make the most of it (shameless plug here – why not take him to the zoo!). And if you’re not one of those lucky ones then take a minute to appreciate the good fathers you know – both the human and non-human varieties.