Abstract
Multiple births are very rare among gibbons. The birth of siamang twins at the Zürich Zoo in 1992 therefore presented a valuable opportunity to observe the development of the twins and to contrast it with a survey of previous reports on the development of single offspring of siamang and gibbons of thelar group. Furthermore, the hypothesis that the presence of twins among siamang may facilitate the occurrence of helping behaviour (defined as the care of offspring by individuals other than their parents) was re-examined (Dielentheis et al., 1991). The Zürich twins (one male and one female) were observed for a total of 74 hr during their first year of life. The results show that: (1) The twins exhibited more rapid behavioural development than that reported for single offspring. (2) A clear difference between the twins was observed: the female twin developed more rapidly than the male. (3) Neither the twins' father nor their older sisterRama was ever observed carrying the twins. The hypothesis ofDielentheis et al. (1991) is hence not supported by the present study, although it is possible that the older sisterRama did not carry the twins because she was younger than the juvenile in that study. (4) Siamangs may have a longer maturation period than gibbons of thelar group.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alberts, S., 1983. Parenting and infant development in captive siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus). Honor's thesis, Reed College, Portland, Oregon.
—, 1987. Parental care in captive siamangs (Hylobates syndactylus).Zoo Biol., 6: 401–406.
Benchley, B. J., 1938a. Notes on the birth and infancy of a gibbon.Zoonooz (San Diego), 10(8): 1–7.
—, 1938b. Notes on the birth and infancy of a gibbon.Parks & Recreation (Rockford, Ill.), 22(2): 67–71.
Berkson, G., 1966. Development of an infant in a captive gibbon group.J. Gen. Psychol., 108: 311–325.
Breznock, A. W., S. Porter, J. B. Harrold, &T. G. Kawakami, 1979. Hand-rearing infant gibbons. In:Nursery Care of Nonhuman Primates,G. C. Ruppenthal (ed.), Plenum Press, New York & London, pp. 287–298.
Brody, E. J. &A. E. Brody, 1974. Breeding Müller's Bornean gibbon,Hylobates lar muelleri.Int. Zoo Yrbk., 14: 110–113.
Chivers, D. J., 1974. The siamang in Malaya: a field study of a primate in tropical rain forest. In:Contributions to Primatology, Vol. 4, Karger, Basel, pp. i-xiii, 1–335.
Ciba-Geigy, 1980.Wissenschaftliche Tabellen Geigy, Teilband Statistik, 8. Auflage. Basel, CIBAGEIGY AG.
Crandall, L. S., 1946a.Management of Wild Animals in Captivity. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago.
—, 1946b. The carefree life of a baby gibbon.Anim. Kingdom (New York), 49: 70–72.
Dielentheis, T. F., E. Zaiss, &T. Geissmann, 1991. Infant care in a family of siamangs (Hylobates syndactylus) with twin offspring at Berlin Zoo.Zoo Biol., 10: 309–317.
Fischer, J. O. &T. Geissmann, 1990. Group harmony in gibbons: comparison between whitehanded gibbon (Hylobates lar) and siamang (H. syndactylus).Primates, 31: 481–494.
Fox, G. J., 1977. Social Dynamics in Siamang. Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
—, 1979. Successful siamang husbandry at the Milwaukee County Zoo.Int Zoo News, 26/5(161): 5–8.
Geissmann, T., 1984. Funktion der gesanglichen Lautäusserungen des Siamangs (Hylobates syndactylus Raffles, 1821). Diploma thesis, Zürich Univ., Zürich.
—, 1989.Multiple Births in Catarrhine Monkeys and Apes — A Review. Firenze, Editrice “Il Sedicesimo”.
—, 1990. Twinning frequency in catarrhine primates.Human Evol., 5: 387–396.
—, 1991. Reassessment of age of sexual maturity in gibbons.Amer. J. Primatol., 23: 11–22.
—, 1993. Evolution of Communication in Gibbons (Hylobatidae). Ph.D. thesis, Zürich Univ., Zürich.
Groves, C. P., 1972. Systematics and phylogeny of gibbons. In:Gibbon and Siamang, Vol. 1,D. M. Rumbaugh (ed.), Karger, Basel, pp. 1–89.
Haimoff, E. H., 1981. Video analysis of siamang (Hylobates syndactylus) songs.Behaviour, 76: 128–151.
Hintermann, A., 1988. Entwicklung und Eingliederung eines Jungtieres bei den Kappengibbons. Semester thesis, Gymnasium Rämibühl, Zürich.
—, 1989. Entwicklung und Eingliederung eines Jungtieres bei den Kappengibbons. In:Schweizer Jugend forscht — 1989,M. Wieland (ed.), Verlag Schweizer Jugend forscht, Winterthur, pp. 93–96.
Ibscher, L., 1964. Verhaltensstudien an Weisshandgibbons (Hylobates lar) im Zürcher Zoologischen Garten. Diploma thesis, Zürich Univ., Zürich.
—, 1967. Geburt und frühe Entwicklung zweier Gibbons (Hylobates lar).Folia Primatol., 5: 43–69.
Lee, M. Q., 1976. Siamangs: What do we know about them? B.A. thesis, Reed College, Portland, Oregon.
Linke, K., 1988. Beobachtungen zur Entwicklung von 3 Gibbons bei einer Handaufzucht und 2 kombinierten Aufzuchten.Der Zool. Garten (N.F.), 58: 229–250.
—, 1989. Vergleichende Beobachtungen bei der Aufzucht verschiedener Affen. In:Verhandlungsbericht zur Konferenz Haltung und Zucht von Primaten,H.-D. Hohmann (ed.), VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena, pp. 68–77.
Martin, D. P., P. L. Golway, M. J. George, &J. A. Smith, 1979. Care of the infant and juvenile gibbon (Hylobates lar). In:Nursery Care of Nonhuman Primates,G. C. Ruppenthal (ed.), Plenum Press, New York & London, pp. 299–305.
Martin, P. &P. Bateson, 1986.Measuring Behaviour: An Introductory Guide. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.
Orgeldinger, M., 1989a. Untersuchungen zum Verhalten von Siamangs (Hylobates syndactylus,Raffles 1821) in zoologischen Gärten unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Sozialverhaltens. Diploma thesis, Ruprecht-Karls-Univ. Heidelberg, Heidelberg.
—, 1989b. Beobachtungen zum Sozialverhalten der Siamangs (Hylobates syndactylus,Raffles 1821) im Tierpark Hellabrunn. In:Münchener Tierpark Hellabrunn AG, Geschäftsbericht 1988, pp. 54–56.
Roberts, R., 1983. The birth and development of a lar or white handed gibbon. In:Anim. Keepers' Forum, Special Edition, A.A.Z.K. National Conference, 1983, pp. 392–397.
Rumbaugh, D. M., 1965. The gibbon infant,Gabrielle: its growth and development.Zoonooz (San Diego), 38(12): 10–15.
—, 1966. First year of life: the behavior and growth of a lowland gorilla and gibbon.Zoonooz (San Diego), 39(7): 8–17.
—, 1967a. The siamang infant,Sarah: its growth and development.Zoonooz (San Diego), 40(3): 12–18.
—, 1967b. “Alvilla” — San Diego Zoo's captive born gorilla.Int. Zoo Yrbk., 7: 98–107.
Sawina, N. W. &W. Opachowa, 1981. Haltung und Zucht von Weisshandgibbons (Hylobates lar L., 1771) im Leningrader Zoo.Der Zool. Garten (N.F.), 51: 343–352.
Schmidt, C. R., 1992. Zwillinge bei Siamangs (Symphalangus syndactylus).Der Zool. Garten (N.F.), 62: 284–286.
Steiner, H., 1947. Gibbons. In:Unsere Tiere: Ein Sammelwerk für Natur- und Tierfreunde, Erster Band,R. Riedtmann &L. Beringer (eds.), Beringer & Pampaluchi, Zürich, pp. 5–7.
—, 1949. Beobachtungen über das brutbiologische Verhalten des Gibbons und an einem frühgeborenen Fötus bei einer Bastardzucht vonHylobates.Arch. Julius Klaus-Stiftung, 24: 217–286.
Thetford, E., 1991. A siamang fostered at Howletts Zoo Park.Int. Zoo News, 38 (8, No. 233): 28–30.
Welt, C. &W. I. Welker, 1963. Postural and locomotor development of a gibbon (Hylobates lar).Amer. J. Phys. Anthropol. (n.s.), 21: 425 (Abstract).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
About this article
Cite this article
Pra, G.D., Geissmann, T. Behavioural development of twin siamangs (Hylobates syndactylus). Primates 35, 325–342 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02382729
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02382729