Zoo Trip Reflection

The highlight of the zoo trip, for me, was getting to be with my animal during their feeding time. This helped me to observe their eating habits, such as how they bond, how they treat each other, etc., in captivity. I could also see what they ate compared to in the wild. I learned about them that, while in captivity, they spend most of their time resting. However, it wasn't much of a surprise that they did this, since they spend their days searching for food in the wild, because they didn't have to look for food, it was given to them. I noticed that the dominant male was usually sitting near the resting tree, but hardly ever in it. This included while they were grooming and huddling. There were a couple of behaviors that were different than in the wild. For example, instead of spending all of their time looking for food during the day, they spent it resting and grooming. They would normally only do this at night after they have found a resting tree, or else they would not have enough food. Another behavior that was different was what they were eating. In the wild, Douc Langurs usually consume mainly leaves and only some fruits and flowers. However, in the zoo they were have mostly fruit and some leaves, with no flowers. I also noticed behaviors that they did have in the wild. For example, they changed resting places a couple of times. Doucs are diurnal (meaning they move from place to place) so it interested me that they still moved around while resting, even though they didn't need to travel, looking for food.