Saturday, February 16, 2008

This - is a Siamang.

A baby Siamang, to be more precise. About six days old. A face only a mother could love. Cutie, isn't he?

The Siamang is a tailless, arboreal, black furred gibbon native to the forests of Malaysia, Thailand, and Sumatra. The largest of the lesser apes, the siamang can be twice the size of other gibbons, reaching 1 m in height, and weighing up to 23 kg. They mainly subsist on the various parts of plants, with 60% of their diet being fruit. As the forest disappears in their habitat, so will the Siamang.

Unlike other parts of Asia, primates are not hunted for their meat in Indonesia (the exception is in some Chinese restaurants in Indonesia). However, they are poached and hunted for the illegal pet trade, mostly for infant Siamang. Poachers kill the mothers because mother Siamang are highly protective of their infants. It is therefore very difficult to remove the infant without first killing the mother. Despite the fact that most Siamang on the market are infants many infants nevertheless die during transportation.

I bowhunt whitetail deer and fish. I guarantee you I could NEVER lift a finger to harm this little guy.

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