During the fall, Mark was placed under increasing stress. Suzy acted hostile toward her, and Mark learned to avoid her mother. Unk’s hostility was harder to avoid. Her father began to kick her, hanging from a bar by his hands and swinging his feet into her chest. He sometimes chased her around the enclosure, forcing her to retreat into the shift cage. Three times, he even followed her into the shift cage and continued to attack.
Les spent more and more time with his sister. It seemed to Greysolynne Fox that the little siamang sought Mark’s company most when Unk acted especially violent toward her. Perhaps Les was trying to make her feel better.
When a new baby was born on February 5, 1972, Suzy and the infant were separated from the family. Zoo officials thought that the playful activities of Smitty and Les combined with Unk’s aggressiveness toward Mark might be more excitement than a newborn ape could tolerate. So, Suzy and the baby were placed in the secondary siamang enclosure. They could enter the shift cage, but a wire mesh separated them from the rest of the family.
Suzy began to spend all her time in the shift cage, pressed up against the barrier that separated her from Unk. Unk missed her, too. He sat on the ledge next to the shift cage entrance, and the two siamangs pushed their fingers through the holes in the mesh to touch one another. Suzy and Unk sat for hours holding hands this way. Unk was so concerned with his separation from Suzy that he ignored Mark completely. Suzy also seemed more concerned over her separation from Unk than anything else, including her infant. She did not hurt the baby, but she handled it less carefully than she had her other children.
Nevertheless, the baby was healthy. It was a male, and he was named Sam, for a primate keeper who loved the siamangs most of all his charges. In a few months, Suzy and little Sam rejoined the rest of the family.
Mark was undoubtedly interested in the baby, just as she had been when Les and Smitty were small. But she also understood what to expect if she approached her mother, so she stayed clear of Suzy and Sam. Smitty was not so cautious. He wanted to see the baby amd approached Suzy directly. However, when he came too close to the newborn, a strange thing happened--Unk attacked, but he attacked Mark, not Smitty.
Unk’s violence toward his daughter had resumed, stronger than ever. Zoo officials realized that Mark’s safety was in question. Three days after Suzy and Sam were returned to the family, Mark was removed and placed by herself in the adjoining enclosure.
Suzy continued to behave rather casually toward Sam. Instead of keeping him clutched to her chest, she often carried him around on her leg. Poor little Sam held on as well as he could, his fingers wrapped around the hair on Suzy’s thigh. Sometimes, Suzy sat with Sam on her foot, tapping the foot on the floor. The baby bounced around and occasionally fell off. Perhaps Suzy was getting old and one last baby had tried her patience. Still, she must have cared for him well enough, because he developed as quickly as Mark, Smitty, and Les.
