Firefighters' gift helps aging zoo apes

Phyllis, a 44-year-old white-cheeked gibbon, rests in a fire-hose hammock at the Oregon Zoo’s Red Ape Reserve.

 Photo by Michael Durham, courtesy of the Oregon Zoo

Primates at the Oregon Zoo are now relaxing in hammocks made from about 2,000 feet of decommissioned fire hose donated by the Clackamas Fire District.

Primate keepers Colleen Reed and Scott Jackson wove the hose into hammocks, which are now being used by 54-year-old orangutan Inji and gibbons Phyllis and Duffy. They are relatively indestructible, mimic the arboreal nests used by orangutans, and provide a resting area for the gibbons as they swing among the treetops.