Where is Banana Sam?

Hi Everybody!

I hope the holidays were great for everyone! And I am sincerely sorry for my lack of communication, but I'm trying to get several projects off the ground.

But I came across this story today and I thought you should know about it. It's about a monkey named Banana Sam - he is from San Francisco and he is missing. Now we don't know if he escaped on his own  from his home at the zoo (which I am fine with) or that he was monkey-napped! (which I am not fine with).

He might have a twitter (http://twitter.com/SF_BananaSam) but we are not sure if it is really him or perhaps his monkey-nappers trying to make it seem like he is okay.

So Banana Sam if you are okay and on your own - let me know - or else the search will continue!

Happy New Year Everyone!

MoJo

For more on this story go to :  http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/12/monkey-banana-sam-snatched-from-san-francisco-zoo/

The Smoking Chimp

 (Picture above Omega from the AP)



Omega is a 12-year-old chimpanzee who recently was rescued from a zoo in Lebanon and sent to Brazil. Why? Because he was smoking cigarettes! A group called Animals Lebanon (an Animal Rights group) found out that people visiting the zoo would throw cigarettes into his cage and he would smoke them - and the Lebanese zoo would not do anything to stop the people or stop Omega. So Animals Lebanon were able to save him and place him into a sanctuary in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Lebanon has no laws to protect animals!

"In his younger years, Omega was used in one of the local restaurants to entertain people and was made to smoke cigarettes and serve water pipes to customers. After he grew stronger, he was locked up and taken to a zoo where for the past 10 years he has lived in a cage measuring 430 square feet (40 square meters)."

Good Job to Animals Lebanon for saving Omega before he continued down this destructive path of smoking! And if you are an animal - GET OUT OF LEBANON!

For more on this story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101108/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_lebanon_smoking_chimpanzee;_ylt=Am7c_rbrN7O3hcnNfxGKmR4DW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTMzZXRyMHJ0BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAxMTA4L21sX2xlYmFub25fc21va2luZ19jaGltcGFuemVlBHBvcwMxNARzZWMDeW5fYXJ0aWNsZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA3Ntb2tpbmdjaGltcA--

Gorilla plays Donkey Kong?

The gorillas were just hanging out at the San Francisco Zoo when a kid dropped his Nintendo DSi XL and they picked it up! So we don't know what game they were playing but maybe it was Donkey Kong! Though if it was they probably would just let Donkey Kong win.

In a related story - a gorilla gets a new game but after he asks his Dad to change the batteries he has a hard time getting it back.

(Story and Pictures via Gizmodo)

Stay Cool!

(Picture via REUTERS/Stringer)

Well it was a hot one today on the East Coast of the United States but let's take a tip from this macaque monkey from Zhengzhou in the Henan province of China and lick some ice lollys! Its a good way to keep cool.

What? No Name?

How about MoJo?

This baby gibbon is from Vienna and he lives in their Schoenbrunn Zoo! He was born on September 23rd and has yet to be named. MoJo is pretty good I think. Maybe you guys have better ideas?

Thanks to the Schoenbrunn Zoo for the picture! If you are in the area check them out!

http://www.zoovienna.at/

Baby, It's Cold Outside

(Picture from AP Photo/Pavel Rahman via Yahoo!)

I don't know about where you guys have been lately but where I've been (the North East United States) it's been cold outside! And its not going to get any warmer with another large Arctic blast passing through the country.

Well if you are not sure how to stay warm take a tip from these monkeys! During a cold and foggy morning at the Dhaka Zoo in Dhaka, Bangladesh these monkeys cuddled together to stay warm.

Because of the cold wave in the area there have been 6 cold related deaths and even an outbreak of cold related diseases. That's horrible news - so stick together guys! We monkeys are excellent cuddlers ; )

So you heard it right here folks - If you are Cold: START CUDDLING!

Most Emailed Photo - Menari the Orangutan

(Picture from AP via Yahoo!)

Hi Everybody- Happy Friday!

This picture of a female Orangutan named Menari was the "Most Emailed Photo" on Yahoo! today. She was born on July 10th at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. The zoo announced her birth Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009 (I'm not sure why they kept it a secret) and they also said that starting Sept. 26, she will be out daily from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. to meet and greet everyone— weather permitting.

Welcome Menari!

For more on the Audubon Zoo Click Here

-MoJo

Thumbs UP! - ZooTV

(Live video streams from the Great Plains Zoo to Sanford Children's Hospital (Squirrel Monkeys!). Fun animal facts scroll across the screen. - Picture via USA TODAY )

Hi Everybody, its me - MoJo

I wanted to give a big Thumbs UP! to the Great Plains Zoo in South Dakota! Why? Because the Great Plains Zoo started ZooTV! ZooTV was started in March, using 14 weatherproof cameras to video tape live animals at the zoo and then beam the live feed to sick children at hospitals - whether its during hospital stays (giving them something to do and break up their stay/day) or to comfort them while going through medical procedures.

"ZooTV is one of a growing number of partnerships between hospitals and zoos to help comfort children who are, in many cases, waging life-and-death battles against cancer and other serious illnesses.

Video of tigers, monkeys, giraffes and some underwater creatures are being beamed into patient rooms in cities including Sioux Falls, Palo Alto, Calif., and Rochester, Minn."

This has inspired other Zoo's like the Houston Zoo in Houston, Texas who hopes to share their animals by adding cameras in their future expansion plans. At the same time hospitals are lining up to add ZooTV to their buildings as well.

There hasn't been any studies done yet - but it might be true that video of monkeys is especially cheerful to the children and may actually decrease their recovery time; we will have to wait and see. I mean look at the picture above - they chose to show the feed of some Squirrel Monkeys - they know a monkey a day keeps the doctor away.

For more on this Story: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-09-07-zootv_N.htm

And the Great Plains Zoo: http://www.gpzoo.org

Keep Smiling

- MoJo

Watch out Ladies - here comes Yeboah!

(Mjukuu (age 10) shows off a picture of Yeboah - via Daily Mail)

Hi Everybody! It's me - MoJo

There are three lonely female gorillas in a zoo in London that will soon be joined by a French Male Gorilla named Yeboah. Yeboah is a 12-year-old gorilla leaving his current home in at La Boissiere Du Dore Zoo in northwest France and headed to the British Capital by the end of the year as he packs his things.

The three female gorillas (Zaire (34), Effie (16), and Mjukuu (10))were given posters of Yeboah to prepare them for their new friend and they all went bonkers. One female gorilla shrieked in delight, while another wedged the poster in a tree to stare at it. A third, clearly overcome by emotion, held the photo close to her chest -- then ate it. This will be their first male visitor since last December.

For More on this story go to the London Zoo, the Daily Mail, and CNN

I wonder if they would like a poster of Me?

Bye
-MoJo