WAHPETON (AP) - Niko's first full summer of living with other spider monkeys at the Chahinkapa Zoo has gotten off to a bit of a rough start.

The spider monkey made famous for having to live with Chahinkapa Zoo Director Kathy Diekman for the first 18 months of his life suffered a broken left arm about two weeks ago. It left him in a cast, but with plenty of attention from the zoo workers and the community.

"He has gotten so many letters and cards from people and kids, all telling him to get well soon," Diekman said. "The people in this community have really taken an interest and an ownership in Niko."

Diekman said there's no way for sure to be able to tell how Niko broke his arm. She speculates that he hooked his arm while playing and made a sudden movement that resulted in the break.

"This spring, we were really happy because it would be his first spring with summer monkeys," Diekman said. "He loved to swing and climb."

During a tour, her mother noticed Niko's arm was swollen. X-rays showed two broken bones, and he wound up with a cast from his shoulder over his left hand.

Diekman said Niko was frustrated by the cast early but quickly adapted to it.

"We're still concerned that he might get the cast caught in the fence, so he's not out all the time like the other monkeys," Diekman said. "But he seems to be happy whenever he's out. He's swinging and jumping just like the other monkeys."

Niko's story is a unique one.

Abandoned by his mother at birth on April 3, 2005, the spider monkey needed to find a surrogate mother within 72 hours or would likely die. After an unsuccessful search for a non-human surrogate, Diekman decided to personally parent Niko instead of using an incubator.

Diekman started carrying Niko in a baby Snugli and started the monkey on a baby formula in July 2005. Niko would spend up to 23 hours attached to Kathy for the next few months. Eventually, Niko's story would be documented by the Animal Planet channel.

Diekman would take Niko everywhere she went, including stores in the Wahpeton-Breckenridge area.

"Most stores were excited to see Niko, although I tried not exploit him," said Diekman. Her neck still is sore from Niko wrapping his tail around her when he was young.

"It's really hard not to relay the wrong message to children," she said. "When we were young, we'd all think what a neat idea it would be to have a monkey as a pet. They're not pets, and people would see me with him. I felt the responsibility to tell everybody his story so they wouldn't go out and buy one."

By January 2006, Kathy would spend some of her nights sleeping in the zoo's Jensen Center with the monkeys to start acclimating Niko to his future home. Niko started living with the spider monkeys last September.

"Believe me, after having a monkey on my head, I'm really going to look harder for a surrogate mother the next time," Diekman said with a laugh.

In the spring of last year, Niko was slowly acclimated to two other spider moneys - Mei Li, a cousin of Niko's, and Topanga, Niko's aunt. But later that summer, Topanga started fighting with Niko and was sent to another zoo.

Diekman still talks fondly about the experience and said if she had to do it over again, she would.

"Was it necessary, and are we happy we did it? Yes," she said.

"And it worked."